&^ 


GIFT 


ORGANIZATION 
AND  ADMINISTRATIVE  METHODS^ 


OF  THE 


BOARD  OF  REVISION  OF  TAXES 


OF 


PHILADELPHIA  COUNTY 


UNlVURSi  i    • 

OF  ^  ^   ., 


A  DESCRIPTIVE  STATEMENT 


This  Document  is  issued  hy  the  Members  of  the  Board  of 
Revision  of  Taxes  at  their  own  expense 


Compiled  by  the 

BUREAU  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH 

714  REAL  ESTATE  TRUST  BUILDING 

SEPTEMBER  23.  1913 


/Pb 


¥ 


BUREAU   OF   MUNICIPAL   RESEARCH 

731  REAL  ESTATE  BUILDING 
BROAD  AND  CHESTNUT  STS. 


TRUSTEES 

George   Woodward^,   M.  D.,    Chairman 

Percy  H.  Clark,  Trcastirer 
DiMNER  Beeber  William  W.  Justice 

William  C.  Bullitt  John  H.  Musser,  M.  D. 

George  Burnham,   Jr.  George  W.   Norris 

Frederick  A.  Cleveland     Leo  S.  Rowe 
Cyrus  H.  K.  Curtis  Frank  G.  Thomson 

Powell  Evans                       Albert  E,  Turner                                              Director, 
Samuel  S.  Fels                     Asa  S.  Wing                                                 Jesse  D.  Bubks 
Clarence  L.  Harper             Walter  Wood 
Emory  R.  Johnson  James  T.  Young  

For  the  Board  of  Trade  Advisory  Director, 

Malcolm  Lloyd,  Jr.  Edward  R.  Wood  Frederick  A.  Cleveland 

For  the  Chamher  of  Commerce 
James  C.  Jones  Charles  Z.  Tryon 

For  the  Merchants  and  Manufacturers  Association 
Daniel  V.  Brown  Charles  W.  Neeld 

Philadelphia^  September  23,  WIS. 

Messrs.  Simon  Gratz,  J.  Wesley  Durham  and  David  E".  Fell,  Jr., 
Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes,  Philadelphia. 

Gentlemen: — ^We  are  transmitting  herewith  a  descriptive  re- 
port on  the  organization  and  administrative  procedure^  of  the  Board 
of  Revision  of  Taxes,  which  we  have  prepared  in  co-operation  with 
Mr.  Fell,  Mr.  List  and  numerous  other  members  of  your  Department. 

We  should  be  glad  if  you  would  examine  and  verify  the  report, 
make  such  modifications  as  may  be  required  and  return  to  us  one 
copy  of  the  verified  report,  retaining  the  other  copy  for  your  files 
if  you  desire. 

You  will  note  that  the  report  does  not  assume  to  criticise  in 
any  way  the  organization  or  methods  described,  or  to  ofier  any  con- 
structive suggestions  for  your  consideration.  We  venture  to  add, 
however,  that  our  study  has  made  it  clear  that  individual  assessors 
and  other  members  of  your  organization  have  developed  valuable 
principles  of  procedure   and  methods  of  work  which  might  very 


54211.3 


•  •  •   • 

•  •    •  • 

•  •      •   •- 


•  ••  •  .••;  ,  ••  • 


readily  be  made  available  to  all  other  members  of  the  staff  engaged 
in  similar  service. 

If  you  desire,  we  shall  be  glad  to  continue  the  study  and  submit 
for  your  consideration  suggestions  of  a  constructive  character  v^hich 
might  be  of  value  to  you  in  planning  for  the  further  development 
of  this  branch  of  the  public  service. 

Permit  us  to  acknowledge  the  cordial  co-operation  extended 
by  all  the  officers  and  employees  of  your  Department  with  whom  we 
have  come  into  contact.  As  an  agency  representing  citizens  and 
taxpayers,  we  have  acquired  a  new  appreciation  of  the  difficulties 
with  which  you  are  constantly  confronted,  as  well  as  the  immensely 
valuable  service  which  you  are  rendering  the  community. 

Very  truly  yours, 
BUKEAU  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH, 

Jesse  D.  Burks, 

Director. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Organization — Salaries,  Powers  and  Duties  of  Officials 6 

a.  Board  of  Kevision 6 

(1)  Administrative  supervision  of  department 6 

(2)  Care  and  custody  of  assessment  records 6 

(3)  Award  contracts  for  supplies 6 

(4)  Supervision  and  control  assessments 6 

( 5 )  Recommend  divisions  of  election  districts 6 

(6)  Submit  reports  and  records  to  various  officials 6 

b.  Clerical  force 6 

(1)  Chief  clerk 6 

(2)  Assistant  chief  clerk 6 

(3)  Eegistration  clerk 6 

(4)  Allowance  clerk 6 

(5)  Locality  clerk 7 

(6)  Certificate  clerk 7 

(7)  Special  clerk 7 

(8)  Miscellaneous  clerk  . 7 

( 9)  Miscellaneous  clerks  (2) 7 

(10)  Miscellaneous  clerks  (18)   7 

(11)  Extra  clerks 7 

( 12)  Stenographer 7 

( 13 )  Doorkeeper 7 

(14)  Janitors  (2) 7 

c.  Assessors  (70) 7 

( 1 )  Make  assessments  of  real  estate 7 

( 2 )  Assess  personal  property 7 

(3)  Issue  notices  of  changes  in  assessments  and  of  hearings  on 

appeals 7 

(4)  Prepare  assessment  records 7 

(5)  Prepare  and  submit  reports  to  Board 7 

(6)  Make  changes  in  street  numbers  and  reports  to  chief  clerk.  .  8 
Administrative  Methods  and  Procedure 8 

a.     Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes 8 

( 1 )  Organization,  etc. 8 

(2)  Time  of  holding  meetings 8 


Pa  (IK 

(3)  Administrative  supervision  of  departments 8 

(4)  Care  and  custody  of  assessment  records 9 

( 5 )  Award  contracts  for  supplies 9 

(6)  Supervision  and  control  of  assessments 9 

(7)  Eecommend  division  or  rearrangement  of  election  districts  18 

(8)  Submit  reports  and  records  to  various  officials 18 

Clerical  force 19 

(1)  Chief  clerk 19 

(2)  Assistant  chief  clerk 21 

(3)  Ee-gistration  clerk 23 

(4)  Allowance  clerk 24 

(5)  Locality  clerk 25 

(6)  Certificate  clerk 30 

(7)  Special  clerk 32 

(8)  Miscellaneous  clerk 32 

(9)  Miscellaneous  clerks  (2) 32 

(10)  Miscellaneous  clerks  (18) 34 

(11)  Extra  clerks 36 

( 12)  Stenographer 36 

(13)  Doorkeeper 36 

(14)  Janitors  (2) 36 

Assessors  (70) 37 

(1)  Assessment  of  real  estate 37 

(2)  Assessment  of  personal  property 47 

(3)  Notixje  of  changes  in  assessments  and  of  hearings  on  appeals  57 

(4)  Preparation  of  assessors'  books 59 

(5)  Preparation  and  submission  of  reports 60 

(6)  Designation  of  change  in  street  numbers  and  report  to  chief 

clerk 62 


ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATIVE  METHODS 

OF  THE  BOARD  OF  REVISION  OF  TAXES 

OF  PHILADELPHIA  COUNTY 


A  DESCRIPTIVE  STATEMENT 


According  to  an  Act  of  Legislature  (14  Mar.,  1865,  Sect.  1, 
P.  L.  320;  as  amended  2  Feb.,  1867,  Sect.  1,  P.  L.  13Y),  "the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  of  Philadelphia  County  shall,  once  in  every  three 
years,  before  the  time  of  the  revision  of  the  taxes  for  the  succeeding 
year,  and  as  often  as  vacancies  shall  occur,  appoint  [three]  persons 
deemed  the  most  competent,  who  shall  compose  the  Board  of  Re- 
vision of  Taxes  of  the  countj." 

In  accordance  with  the  same  Act,  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes 
of  the  County  of  Philadelphia  shall  exercise  all  the  powers  heretofore 
vested  in  the  County  Board  of  Revision;  and,  according  to  the  Act 
of  June  1,  1885,  "all  boards  of  revision  of  taxes  created  by  any 
Acts  of  Assembly  of  this  Commonwealth  shall  be  appointed  and  per- 
form their  functions  as  heretofore."  An  Act  of  March  5,  1903, 
fixes  the  salary  of  members  of  the  Board  of  Revision  in  counties  con- 
taining a  population  of  1,250,000  or  over  at  $6,000  per  annum. 
The  powers,  duties  and  limitations  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of 
Taxes,  its  members  and  its  subordinate  ofiicers,  are  in  general  pre- 
scribed by  Acts  of  Assembly  (see  administrative  code  of  the  Board 
of  Revision  of  Taxes  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research. 
June  1,  1909.) 

For  purposes  of  convenience,  the  organization  and  administra- 
tive methods  and  procedure  of  the  Board  are  summarized  in  the 
present  descriptive  statement  under  the  following  headings : 

1.  Organization — ^salaries,  powers  and  duties  of  officials.  2. 
Administrative  methods  and  procedure. 

The  second  part  of  the  report  is  sub-classified  as  follows : 
(a)  Board  of  Revision,  (b)  Clerical  force,  including  (1) 
chief  clerk;  (2)  assistant  chief  clerk;  (3)  registration  clerk;  (4) 
allowance  clerk;  (5)  locality  clerk;  (6)  certificate  clerk;  (7)  special 
clerk;  (8)  miscellaneous  clerk  (1)  assigned  as  assistant  to  special 
clerk;   (9)  miscellaneous  clerks  (2)   assigned  to  work  on  sales  and 


mortgage  records;  (10)  miscellaneous  clerks  (18);  (11)  extra  clerks; 
(12)  stenographers;  (13)  doorkeeper;  (14)  janitor.  c.  Assessors 
of  real  estate. 


1.  Organization,  Salaeies,  Powees  and  Duties. 

Office:  a.  Board  of  Kevision  (3  members).  Salary:  $6,000 
each.  Powers  and  duties:  (1)  Administrative  supervision  of  depart- 
ment: (a) Appoint  clerical  assistants;  (b)  supervision  and  control 
of  clerical  force.  (2)  Care  and  custody  of  assessment  records. 
(3)  Award  contracts  for  supplies.  (4)  Supervision  and  control  of 
assessments:  (a)  Appoint  and  remove  assessors;  (b)  issue  adminis- 
trative orders  governing  assessments ;  (c)  create  and  alter  assessment 
districts;  (d)  classify  realty;  (e)  decide  disagreements  between  as- 
sessors with  regard  to  valuations;  (f)  receive  and  act  upon  reports 
from  assessors ;  (g)  apportion  assessments ;  (h)  revise  and  equalize 
assessed  values;  (i)  receive  and  act  upon  applications  for  exemption. 
(5)  Recommend  divisions  of  election  districts.  (6)  Submit  re- 
ports and  records  to  various  officials:  (a)  Furnish  Receiver  of  Taxes 
with  duplicate  assessment  roll ;  (b)  furnish  city  Controller  with  dupli- 
cates of  assessments;  (c)  submit  annual  report  to  Secretary  of  In- 
ternal Affairs;  (d)  submit  annual  report  to  Auditor  General;  (e) 
prepare  miscellaneous  reports. 

Office:  b.  Clerical  force.  (1)  Chief  clerk.  Salary:  $2,500. 
Powers  and  Duties:  (a)  Supervise  clerical  force  and  direct  office 
routine;  (b)  advertise  for  bids. for  supplies;  (c)  prepare  estimates 
for  appropriations;  (d)  publish  notices  of  hearings  on  appeals; 
(e)  keep  record  of  expenditures  and  audit  accounts;  (f)  draw  war- 
rants and  prepare  pay  roll;  (g)  attend  meetings  of  Board  when 
requested. 

Office:  (2)  Assistant  chief  clerk.  Salary:  $2,000.  Powers 
and  Duties:  (a)  Direct  clerical  work  of  miscellaneous  and  extra 
clerks,  and  of  registration  clerk;  (b)  compute  tax  statistics;  (c) 
prepare  reports  to  state  officials:  (1)  Reports  to  Secretary  of  In- 
ternal Affairs,  (2)  report  to  Board  of  Revenue  Commissioners; 
(d)  care  for  records  of  exempt  property. 

Office:  (3)  Registration  clerk.  Salary:  $2,000.  Powers  and 
Duties:  (a)  Check  assessments,  note  and  rectify  errors  in  records. 

Office:  (4)  Allowance  clerk.  Salary:  $1,800.  Powers  and 
Duties:  (a)  Keep  records  of  applications  for  hearings  on  appeals, 
together  with  orders  of  the  Board  in  relation  thereto;  (b)  prepare 
monthly  reports  to  Controller  of  allowances  and  reductions. 


Office:  (5)  Locality  clerk.  Salary:  $1,700.  Powers  and 
Duties:  (a)  Make  divisions  of  assesvsments  and  notify  Receiver  of 
Taxes ;  (b)  prepare  monthly  reports  of  divisions  for  City  Controller ; 
(c)  prepare  monthly  reports  of  additional  assessments;  (d)  transmit 
to  the  various  county  commissioners  of  other  counties  records  of 
mortgages,  judgments,  etc.,  held  by  non-residents  of  Philadelphia 
county  residing  within  the  state;  (e)  prepare  certificates  of  assess- 
ments ;  (f )  gather  statistics  regarding  the  rearrangement  of  election 
districts  and  prepare  plans  therefrom  for  proposed  new  election 
divisions;  (g)  prepare  statements,  upon  request  of  highway  bureau 
or  survey  bureau,  showing  classification  of  all  properties  abutting 
on  streets  upon  which  municipal  improvements  are  contemplated. 

Office:  (6)  Certificate  clerk.  Salary:  $1,500.  Powers  and 
Duties:  (a)  Prepare  certificates  of  allowances,  reductions,  additions 
and  changes  in  ownership  or  names. 

Office:  (7)  Special  clerk.  Salary:  $1,400.  Powers  and  Duties: 
(a)  Care  and  custody  of  public  room  and  of  assessors'  books  therein. 

Office:  (8)  Miscellaneous  clerk.  Salary:  $1,200.  Powers  and 
Duties:  (a)  Assist  special  clerk  in  charge  of  public  records. 

Office:  (9)  Miscellaneous  clerks  (2).  Salary:  $1,200  each. 
Powers  and  Duties:  (a)  Keep  records  of  real  estate  sales;  (b)  Keep 
records  of  mortgage  transactions;  (c)  Keep  records  of  building 
permits. 

Office:  (10)  Miscellaneous  clerks  (18).  Salary:  $1,200  each. 
Powers  and  Duties:  (a)  Prepare  duplicates  and  triplicates  of  asses- 
sors' books;  (b)  assist  and  supervise  work  of  extra  clerks. 

Office:  (11)  Extra  clerks.  Salary:  $75  per  month.  Powers 
and  Duties:  (a)  Assist  miscellaneous  clerks  during  rush  season  in 
preparation  of  the  duplicates  and  triplicates. 

Office:  (12)  Stenographer.  Salary:  $900.  Powers  and  Duties: 
(a)  Render  stenographic  service  and  perform  miscellaneous  clerical 
duties. 

Office:  (13)  Doorkeeper.  Salary:  $840.  Powers  and  Duties: 
(a)  Attend  to  wants  of  visitors,  etc. 

Office:  (14)  Janitors  (2).  Salary:  $720  each.  Powers  and 
Duties:  (a)  Cleaning  service. 

Office:  c.  Assessors  (70).  Salary:  $3,000  each.  Powers  and 
Duiies:  (1)  Make  assessments  of  real  estate;  (2)  assess  personal 
property;  (3)  issue  notices  of  changes  in  assessments  and  of  hear- 
ings on  appeals;  (4)  prepare  assessment  records;  (5)  prepare  and 


8 

submit  reports  to  Board:  (a)  Monthly  statement  on  building  im- 
provements, (b)  monthly  report  on  sales,  (c)  statement  of  appeals 
from  assessments,  (d)  changes  in  use  of  exempt  property.  (6)  Make 
dhanges  in  street  numbers  and  report  to  chief  clerk. 

2.  Administrative  Methods  and  Pboceduee. 
a.  EoARD  OF  Revision  of  Taxes. 

(1)  Organization,  etc.  The  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes  con- 
sists of  three  members  appointed  by  the  judges  of  the  Common  Pleas 
courts  for  terms  of  three  years.  All  three  members  are  chosen  at 
the  same  time.  Vacancies  in  the  Board,  due  to  death  or  resignation, 
are  filled  by  the  same  authority.  Immediately  after  appointment 
the  Board  proceeds  to  organize  by  electing  one  of  its  members  presi- 
dent and  one  secretary.  The  officers  so  elected  serve  for  the  full 
three  years. 

(2)  Time  of  holding  meetings.  The  law  states  that  meetings 
shall  be  held  by  the  Board  on  the  first  Saturday  of  each  month  and, 
in  laddition,  as  often  as  is  necessary  for  the  proper  dispatch  of  busi- 
ness. In  practice  informal  meetings  are  held  almost  daily  during 
certain  seasons  of  the  year.  At  least  two  of  the  three  members  must 
be  present  to  transact  official  business.  'No  minutes  are  kept  of  these 
informal  meetings,  but  records  of  most  transactions  are  preserved  in 
some  other  form.  Consideration  is  given  to  the  monthly  reports  of 
the  real  estate  assessors,  applications  for  allowances  and  reductions, 
additions,  etc.  These  invariably  come  before  the  Board  in  the  form 
of  a  written  or  printed  statement,  and  action  taken  by  the  Board  is 
endorsed  thereon. 

Formal  meetings  are  held  at  irregular  intervals  during  the  year, 
whenever  occasion  for  holding  them  exists,  or  whenever  required  by 
law.  At  these  meetings  the  president  presides  and  the  secretary 
records  all  business  transacted.  As  a  rule  the  chief  clerk  also  attends. 
The  formal  meetings  are  reserved  for  the  most  important  work  with 
which  the  Board  has  to  deal.  Appointments  and  removals  of 
assessors  land  clerks  are  made,  assessment  districts  are  created  and 
boundaries  altered,  assessors  are  re-assigned  to  districts,  etc.  The 
concurrence  of  two  of  its  members  is  necessary  to  make  the  action  of 
the  Board  binding. 

(3)  Administrative  supervision  of  departments,  (a)  Appoint 
clerical  assistants :  The  Board  appoints  and  removes  at  its  discretion 
all  members  of  the  clerical  force  in  the  department,  subject  to  no 
(!ivil  service  regulations.  Salaries,  however,  are  determined  by  ordi- 
nances of  councils. 


9 

(b)  'General  supervision  and  control  of  clerical  staff:  The 
Board  exercises  the  ordinary  powers  of  supervision  over  the  clerical 
staff;  organizing  the  staff,  assigning  particular  duties  to  individual 
members,  directing  them  in  the  performance  of  their  duties,  etc.  l^o 
formal  written  reports  to  the  Board  are  required  from  any  members 
of  the  staff,  but  oral  consultations  may  be  and  frequently  are  held. 
Most  of  the  work  of  direction  is  carried  on  through  the  chief  clerk. 

(4)  Care  and  custody  of  assessment  records.  The  Board  of  Re- 
vision is  made  responsible  by  law  for  the  proper  care  and  safekeeping 
of  the  books  of  assessment.  Other  records  of  various  sorts  are  like- 
wise kept  on  file  in  the  oflBce. 

(5)  Award  contracts  for  supplies.  The  process  of  receiving  and 
filing  bids  for  contracts  is  described  in  connection  with  the  chief  clerk. 
In  making  awards  the  Board  exercises  its  discretion  and  judgment; 
reserving  the  right  to  reject  any  or  all  bids  if  such  action  is 
deemed  necessary  or  desirable  in  ^e  interest  of  the  service.  A  ma- 
jority of  the  Board  is  sufficient  to  act. 

(6)  Supervision  and  control  of  assessments,  (a)  Appoint  and 
remove  assessors :  The  law  vests  in  the  Board  of  Revision  the  power 
to  appoint  assessors  of  real  estate  and  fill  all  vacancies  which  may 
occur  by  death  or  resignation.  Assessors  may  also  be  removed  by 
the  Board  for  incompetency,  or  for  neglect  or  refusal  to^  perform 
faithfully  the  duties  required  by  law.  Appointments  or  removals  are 
made  at  the  discretion  of  the  members;  the  only  legal  restriction 
being  that  which  requires  one  assessor  in  each  district  to  be  a  member 
of  the  majority  political  party,  and  the  other  of  any  minority  politi- 
cal party.  Assessors  are  appointed  for  terms  of  five  years ;  but  it  is 
the  established  policy  of  the  Board  to  reappoint  when  competence  is 
shown.  Action  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  Board  is  sufficient  to 
appoint  or  remove.  Applications  are  considered  by  the  Board  on  the 
basis  of  qualifications  as  shown  by  records  submitted.  Personal  in- 
terviews are  also  granted.  When  the  Board  has  made  an  appoint- 
ment, the  chief  clerk  is  directed  to  notify  the  appointee  of  the  action 
taken, 

(b)  Issue  administrative  orders  governing  assessments :  An  act 
of  February  2,  1867,  confers  upon  the  Board  of  Revision  all  powers 
with  respect  to  assessments  that  had  previously  been  exercised  by 
county  and  city  commissioners.  Included  among  such  powers  was 
that  of  prescribing  and  regulating  the  forms  upon  which  assessors' 
returns  shall  be  made  to  the  Board.  The  Board  thus  determines  the 
exact  forms  to  be  used  in  preparing  the  assessors'  books,  and  the 
forms  to  be  used  for  the  regular  monthly  reports  from  assessors  with 


10 

reference  to  sales,  building  permits,  etc.  Verbal  orders  are  sometimes 
issued  to  the  assessors,  but  printed  directions  are  also  prepared. 
Following  is  a  copy  of  the  printed  regulations  now  in  force: 


Office  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 

Philadelphia,  November  1,  1909. 

DIBECTIONS   TO  ASSESSORS. 

1.  The  Assessors  will  write  the  descriptions  of  property 
in  the  Book  in  accordance  with  the  sample  sheet  herewith  fur- 
nished. One,  or  at  most  two  lines,  is  sufficient  space  between 
descriptions,  and  they  should  be  written  continuously  to  the  end 
of  the  Book,  and  blank  leaves  or  spaces  in  no  case  must  be  left. 

2.  In  writing  the  descriptions  of  properties  in  the  Assessors' 
Book,  the  Assessors  must  be  particular  in  describing  the  Exact 
Sizes  of  Lots,  and  they  must  describe  the  buildings  erected 
thereon,  with  the  number  of  stories  in  height;  and  if  there  be 
any  back-buildings,  they  should  also  be  described. 

3.  Houses  and  lots  on  the  "comers"  of  streets  must  be  so 
designated. 

4.  All  properties  must  be  asses'sed  in  the  name  of  the  reg- 
istered owner  or  owners. 

5.  The  street  numbers  on  houses  must  in  all  cases  accom- 
pany the  descriptions. 

6.  Wherever  it  is  possible  to  indicate  the  exact  location  of 
a  property,  by  stating  the  number  of  feet  East,  West,  I^orth  or 
South  of  any  given  street  at  which  the  property  commences,  this 
statement  must  be  given. 

7.  The  [N'ame  or  IN'ames  of  the  person,  persons,  or  Estate  to 
whom  or  which  the  property  is  assessed,  must  exactly  correspond 
with  the  registration  in  the  Registry  Bureau.  Where  several 
names  are  there  given  as  the  registered  owners,  all  these  names 
must  he  given  in  the  assessment. 

8.  In  each  assessment,  the  name  of  the  registered  owner  of 
the  property  must  be  written  in  full — the  word  "ditto"  must 
never  be  used  to  indicate  the  owner. 

9.  Divisions,  changes  of  Valuations,  and  Xames,  are  to  be 
made  in  black  ink,  ruling  to  be  made  in  red  ink,  and  new  valu- 
ation to  be  placed  in  "Corrected"  column.  Where  the  space  is 
insufficient,  divisions  should  be  carried  to  the  end  of  the  book 


11 

with  proper  notes  and  references.     The  notes  and  references  to 
be  made  in  red  ink. 

10.  Wherever  possible,  all  properties  should  he  separately 
assessed^  so  that  no  assessment  shall  cover  more  than  one  build- 
ing. Where  property  is  assessed  partly  as  Farm  and  partly  as 
Suburban,  the  Suburban  portion,  covering  that  part  which  con- 
tains the  iMansion  House  and  other  Improvements,  should  be  in- 
dicated as  nearly  as  possible  in  acres  or  in  feet. 

11.  The  Assessors  will  report  to  the  Board  all  properties 
in  their  respective  districts  where  the  street  numbers  on  houses 
are  duplicated  or  need  correction,  and  all  houses  that  have 
no  numbers  placed  on  them,  with  such  recommendations  as  they 
may  think  proper  to  make. 

12.  Before  returning  their  books,  the  Assessors  will  add  in 
lead  pencil  at  the  foot  of  each  page  the  total  assessments,  ac- 
cording to  classification,  contained  on  that  page. 

13.  All  properties  "exempt  by  law"  from  taxation  must  be 
written  and  described  in  the  Book  in  Red  Ink.  IsTo  property 
shall  be  marked  Exempt  unless  the  exemption  has  been  pre- 
viously granted  by  the  Board. 

14.  Heal  Estate  and  Personal  Valuations  are  to  be  entered 
on  Assessment  books  in  accordance  with  the  lines  as  ruled. 

15.  In  entering  returns  of  Personal  property,  care  should 
be  taken  to  mark  the  letter  "R"  in  the  "Remark"  column.  When 
estimated,  the  letter  "E'^  should  be  marked  in  said  column.  Re- 
turns and  Estimates  to  be  entered  in  Black  Ink. 

SIMO:Nr  GRATZ, 

J.  WESLEY  DURHAM, 

DAVID  1^.  FELL,  Jk., 

Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 

(c)  Create  and  alter  assessment  districts  and  assign  assessors 
thereto :  The  Board  is  given  full  authority  by  law  to  create  and  alter 
assessment  districts.  In  pursuance  thereof  the  city  has  been  divided 
into  thirty-five  such  districts  averaging  in  area  somewhat  larger  than 
a  ward.  Two  assessors  are  assigned  to  each  district  and  work  ex- 
clusively therein.  Additional  districts  are  created  from  time  to  time, 
or  the  boundary  lines  of  existing  districts  are  sometimes  changed 
whenever  in  the  judgment  of  the  Board  of  Revision  such  action  will 
facilitate  the  work  of  assessment.  When  an  alteration  in  the  lines 
of  existing  districts,  or  the  creation  of  new  ones  is  contemplated,  the 
locality  clerk  is  requested  to  prepare  tentative  drafts  of  the  proposed 


12 

changes,  sliowing  boundaries  and  population  of  eacii  proposed  dis- 
trict. These  are  submitted  to  tihe  Board  and  are  used  as  the  basis  for 
making  changes. 

The  Board  maj  likewise  re-assign  assessors  to  districts  other 
than  those  in  which  they  are  engaged  whenever  they  consider  it 
desirable. 

(d)  Classify  real  estate:  Immediately  after  the  annual  assess- 
ment in  each  year  the  Board  of  Eevision  proceeds  to  classify,  or  re- 
classify, all  assessable  real  estate  in  such  a  manner  as  to  distinguish 
between  urban  or  improved  sections,  rural  or  suburban  lands,  and 
lands  used  for  agricultural  purposes  exclusively.  Property  is  changed 
from  one  class  to  another  usually  upon  the  recommendation  of  the 
assessors.  After  such  a  recommendation  some  member  of  the  Board 
makes  a  personal  inspection.  If  it  is  found  that  the  neighborhood  is 
well  improved,  or  that  a  general  desire  exists  in  the  community  to 
have  property  classified  as  "city"  instead  of  "suburban,"  the  Board 
orders  the  change  to  be  made.  The  initiative  is  also  frequently  taken 
by  taxpayers  who  petition  the  Board  directly  for  a  change  from  sub- 
urban to  city  rates  in  order  to  obtain  city  improvements  for  their 
properties.  The  assessors  are  always  notified  by  the  Board  of  any 
action  taken. 

(e)  Decide  disagreements  between  assessors  with  regard  to  valu- 
ations: The  two  assessors  working  in  the  same  assessment  district 
mnst  agree  upon  all  valuations  placed  upon  properties.  If,  in  any  in- 
stance, a  difference  of  opinion  arises  between  them,  the  case  is  re- 
ferred to  the  Board  of  Revision  for  consideration  and  final  adjust- 
ment.    Such  differences,  however,  rarely  arise. 

(f)  Receive  and  act  upon  reports  from  assessors:  Monthly  re- 
ports of  sales  and  building  improvements  are  submitted  by  the 
assessors  shovdng  what  action  they  have  taken  thereon.  These  are 
examined  by  the  Board,  and  if  found  satisfactory  are  approved.  If 
the  disposition  of  a  particular  item  does  not  meet  the  approval  of 
the  Board,  it  orders  specific  action  to  be  taken.  Reports  on  the  uses 
made  of  exempt  property  are  also  submitted  from  time  to  time.  If, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  JBoard,  the  new  use  to  which  the  property  is 
put  does  not  warrant  further  exemption  it  orders  the  property  to  be 
assessed  for  taxation.  The  order  is  made  in  writing  on  the  report 
blank  and  is  signed  by  at  least  two  of  the  members. 

(g)  Apportion  assessment:  The  assessor  sometimes  appraises 
separate  and  distinct  properties  as  one  estate.  The  Board  of  Revision 
may,  at  lany  time  before  the  payment  of  taxes,  make  a  ratable  ap- 
portionment of  the  total  assessment  upon  each  individual  property  so 
assessed. 


13 

(h)  Revise  and  equalize  assessments :  The  mast  important  func- 
tion of  the  Board  of  Revision  is  to  review  the  actions  of  assessors  in 
fixing  values  and  m^ake  revisions  of  the  same.  Usually  by  November 
1  of  each  year  the  assessors  have  completed  their  field  work  and  fixed 
property  values.  The  Board  then  causes  notices  to  be  published  in 
the  newspapers  announcing  that  hearings  will  be  held  on  specified 
days  for  specified  wards.  Supplementary  to  this  announcement  the 
assessors  are  directed  to  serve  all  property  owners  whose  assessments 
have  been  changed  with  a  notice  stating  the  amount  of  the  assessment 
and  date  for  hearing  (see  assessors).  In  case  any  property  owner 
desires  to  appeal  from  the  action  of  the  assessor,  he  is  furnished  an 
application  blank  which  he  is  required  to  fill  out  and  present.  Wlien 
the  assessment  relates  to  real  estate  the  followino^  form  is  used: 


ANSWER  ALL  QUESTIONS  FULLY. 

Office  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 

Philadelphia, 191 

Application  for  a  reduction  of  the  assessed  value  of  premises 

situate Ward,  assessed  at  $ for  19.  .     Assessed  in 

the  name  of 


being  duly says  that believes  the  above 

property  is  assessed  at  a  greater  sum  than  it  would  sell  for  at  a  fair 
sale  after  due  notice,  and  that  the  answers  to  the  following  questions 
are  true  to  the  best  of .  .  .  .knowledge,  information  and  belief : 

1 — What  was  the  price  paid  for  the  property  ? 2 — Was 

this  the  full  price,  or  was  it  in  addition  to  a  mortgage  or  ground  rent 

existing  upon  the  property  ? In  the  latter  case,  what  was  the 

amount  of  the  mortgage  or  ground  rent  ? 3 — When  was  the 

property  acquired  by  the  applicant  ? 4 — ^What  amount  has 

been  expended  for  improvements  since  the  purchase  ? 5 — Is 

the  property  occupied  by  the  owner  or  by  a  tenant  ? 6 — If 

fully  rented,  w^hat  is  the  monthly  rental  ? If  not  fully  rented, 

what  part  is  now  rented  and  what  rent  is  received  ? 7 — Is  the 

property  for  sale  ? If  so,  what  amount  will  be  accepted  for 

it  clear  of  incumbrance  ? 8 — To  what  incumbrance  is  the 

property  now  subject? 9 — Is  this  property  in  the  applicant's 

opinion  assessed  higher  than  other  properties  of  equal  value  in  the 
immediate    neighborhood  ? If    so,    name    such    proper- 


14 


ties 10 — What,  in  tke  applicant's  opinion,  would  the  prop- 
erty sell  for  at  a  fair  public  or  private  sale  ? What  are  the 

applicant's  reasons  for  naming  that  price  ? 

and    subscribed before   me   this day 

of 1911 


Owner  and  Applicant. 
Address 

Half  of  the  reverse  side  of  this  sheet  is  prepared  for  a  report 
from  the  assessors,  as  follow^s : 

Assessed  19  Assessed  19 

Report  on  within  application: 

19 


Assessors. 


Provision  is  made  for  the  following  data  on  the  exterior  of  the 
blank  when  folded : 

Year  of  assessment.  Ward  in  which  located.  Number  of  as- 
sessors' book  in  which  assessment  is  found.  Page  number  of  same. 
Name  of  applicant.  Location  of  property.  Date  of  filing  appli- 
cation.    Decision  of  Board. 


15 

For  personal  property  the  following  form  is  used : 

Office  of  the  Board  of  Eevision  of  Taxes. 

Philadelphia, 19 

APPLICATI0:N'  for  an  Abatement  on  Personal  Property. 

Assessed    at   No Ward, 

Valued  as  follows: 


Money  at  interest, 

Horses, 

Cattle, 

Carriages,  "To  Hire," 


On   Page.  . .  .Book.  . . 
For  19.... 


being  duly says  that 


Assessed  in  the  name  of 

and  jsubscribed  this day  of 19 


Owner  and  Applicant. 

The  assessors  report  by  filling  in  the  following  blank  on  the 
reverse  side  of  the  application: 

REPORT  ON  WITHIN  APPLICATION. 

Allow Money  at  interest,     $ 

Horses,    $ Cattle,    $ Carriages,    "To   Hire," 


19 


When  properly  folded  for  filing  the  following  form   appears 
on  the  outside: 

19 .Ward 

APPLICATION  OF 

PERSONAL  PROPERTY. 

No Street Div Page 

Filed 19 

Eef erred   for  Examination 19 


16 

After  the  application  has  been  received,  given  a  file  number 
and  reported  on  bj  the  assessors,  it  is  taken  up  for  consideration  by 
the  Board  on  the  day  fixed  for  hearings  from  the  ward  in  which 
the  property  is  located.  From  two  to  seven  wards  or  parts  of 
wards  are  usually  disposed  of  in  one  day.  Each  application  is 
considered  on  its  merits  as  indicated  by  the  information  contained 
in  the  blank.  As  a  rule,  this  is  sufficient  to  enable  the  Board  to 
reach  a  conclusion.  If  it  is  not,  the  assessors  may  be  called  in 
to  supplement  their  report  with  further  details.  Personal  hearings 
are  rarely  held,  but  are  granted  on  the  request  of  the  applicant. 
Sometimes  the  Board  requests  the  attendance  of  the  applicant  at 
the  hearings.    Ordinarily,  however,  this  is  considered  unnecessary. 

As  may  be  noted  from  the  above  form,  the  owner  of  property 
is  required  to  state  under  oath  in  the  application  the  amount  which 
he  believes  the  property  would  sell  for  after  full  public  notice.  If 
this  figure  is  below  that  set  by  the  assessors,  the  assessment  is  usually 
changed  to  conform  to  it,  unless  it  is  clear  from  comparison  with 
values  of  similar  properties  in  the  same  neighborhood  that  such  an 
amount  is  clearly  below  the  market  value. 

After  residents  of  all  wards  of  the  city  have  been  given  an 
opportunity  to  appeal,  two  or  three  weeks  are  allowed  for  miscella- 
neous hearings.  About  December  1st  the  Board  closes  the  hearings 
upon  real  estate  valuations  except  in  cases  in  which  some  special 
reason  exists  for  extending  the  time  to  December  31st.  After  that 
date  the  hearings  are  closed  and  no  further  applications  for  changes 
of  assessments  are  entertained,  except  in  cases  in  which  the  basis 
of  the  complaint  involves  some  clerical  error,  for  example,  in  the 
transcription  of  the  records. 

Hearings  on  appeals  from  assessments  on  personal  property 
are  closed  on  December  31st. 

The  conclusions  of  the  Board  upon  each  particular  hearing  are 
recorded  on  the  outside  of  the  application  blank,  which  is  then  turned 
over  to  the  allowance  clerk  for  record.  Applicants  are  not  notified 
of  the  results  of  the  hearing  unless  they  call  at  the  office  for  this 
purpose. 

Valuations  made  by  the  assessors  are  frequently  revised  by  the 
Board  on  its  own  initiative  and  without  waiting  for  an  appeal  from 
the  taxpayer.  The  bases  for  most  of  these  revisions  are  the  sales 
and  building  permit  reports  submitted  by  the  assessors.  When  these 
reach  the  Board  they  are  examined  with  reference  to  each  item,  and 
particularly  with  reference  to  the  disposition  of  the  item  made  by 
the  assessor.  If,  for  instance,  a  sales  record  shows  the  selling  value 
of  a  particular  property  to  be  considerably  above  the  assessed  value 
and  no  change  in  the  valuation  was  made  by  the  assessor  for  the 


17 

succeeding  year  and  no  reason  given  for  not  raising  the  assessment, 
the  Board  itself  may  order  an  increase  in  the  valuation.  Such  re- 
visions may  occur  at  any  time  of  the  year  preceding  the  final  assess- 
ments for  the  succeeding  year. 

(i)   Eeceive  and  act  upon  applications  for  exemption: 

Applications  for  exemptions  are  made  by  applicant  on  the 
following  form: 

Office  of  the  Board  of  Kevisioi^  of  Taxes. 

application  foe  the  exemption  of  real  estate. 

Philadelphia, 19 ... , 

,  being  duly ,  says  that  he  is 

of ,  and  has  been  authorized  to  make  this  applica- 
tion for  the  exemption  of  premises for  the  year 

and  thereafter  while  the  use  of  the  property  as  hereinafter  stated 
continues,  and  that  the  following  statements  are  true   : 

The  title  to  the  property  is  in  *(see  note  below) 

There  is  erected  on  said  property 

The  size  of  the  building  is. 

The  size  of  the  lot  for  which  exemption  is  claimed  is 

The  part  of  the  ground  not  covered  by  the  present  building 
is used  for 

The  property  is  now  and  has  continuously  since 

been  used  exclusively  for  the  following  purposes : 

ISTo  rent,  revenue  or  income  is  or  will  be  derived  therefrom  except 


to  and  subscribed  before  me  this. day  of 

..19.... 


*N'ame  the  corporation,  unincorporated  association  or  individ- 
ual holding  the  legal  title.  If  the  title  is  in  individuals  or  an 
individual,  state  whether  it  is  held  in  trust,  and,  if  so,  the  terms 
thereof. 

Give  the  date  of  the  deed  and  declaration  of  trust,  if  any. 
2 


18 

A  ckrk  in  the  office  receives  the  application  thus  made  and 
fills  in  the  following  form  on  the  exterior  of  the  same  blank: 

File  'No Exemption  No 

19 Ward 

APPLICATION!^   OF.  ... FOR   THE    EXEMPTION    OF 

PEEMISES 

(Do  not  write  on  this  page) 

The  application  is  next  forwarded  to  the  proper  assessors,  who 
make  a  written  signed  report  on  the  outside  of  the  blank  and  also 
fill  out  the  following  form  thereon : 

Assessed  in  the  name  of 

]3escription  as  assessed 

Book,  .f Page 

Assessments  for  191 

Filed 

The  application  blank  when  prepared  as  above  presents  a  com- 
plete record  of  the  case.  It  is  then  referred  to  the  Board  for  action, 
and  the  decision  is  written  or  stamped  on  the  outside.  In  case  the 
exemption  is  allowed,  the  blank  is  next  given  to  the  assistant  chief 
clerk,  who  makes  an  entry  of  the  exemption  in  the  exemption  books. 

(7)  Recommend  division  or  rearrangement  of  election  districts. 
Petitions  for  altering  election  districts  are  received  and  officially 
disposed  of  by  the  court  of  quarter  sessions.  They  are  filed  with 
the  clerk  of  that  court  and  are  referred  by  the  Judges  to  the  Board 
of  Revision  of  Taxes  for  consideration  and  recommendation.  Upon 
their  receipt  by  the  Board,  the  petitions  are  handed  over  to  the 
division  clerk,  who  prepares  tentative  maps  of  proposed  divisions 
showing  boundary  lines  and  population  statistics.  These  data  are 
submitted  to  the  Board  to  aid  it  in  preparing  its  recommendations. 
The  Board  must  report  recommendations  to  the  court  in  time  fol- 
final  consideration  by  the  Judges  on  the  first  Monday  in  June  of 
each  year.  Before  such  action,  however,  the  report  of  the  Board 
must  be  kept  on  file  in  the  court  for  at  least  five  days,  open  to  the 
inspection  of  the  public.  In  the  meantime  any  person  interested 
may  present  objections  to  the  recommendations. 

(8)  Submit  reports  and  records  to  various  officials,  (a)  Fur- 
nish Receiver  of  Taxes  and  City  Controller  with  copies  of  assessors' 
books. 


19 

The  Board  is  required  by  law  to  make  out  three  complete  sets 
of  assessors'  books  each  year.  The  original  set  is  kept  in  the  office 
for  the  files,  a  duplicate  is  forwarded  to  the  office  of  the  Receiver 
of  Taxes,  and  a  triplicate  set  to  the  office  of  the  City  Controller.  In 
addition,  local  duplicates  are  prepared  for  use  in  the  branch  tax 
office.  Details  of  these  records  are  described  on  the  succeeding 
pages  of  this  report. 

(b)  Submit  annual  reports  to  the  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs : 
On  the  first  of  June  of  each  year  the  Board  submits  a  report  to 
the  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs  at  Harrisburg,  showing  in  tabular 
form,  by  assessment  districts,  a  full  statement  of  all  property  tax- 
able for  county  purposes,  the  amount  of  tax  assessed  and  the  county 
debt.  Real  and  personal  property  are  shown  in  separate  columns. 
The  report  is  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  assistant  chief 
clerk  and  signed  by  the  members  of  the  Board. 

A  second  report,  also  to  the  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs,  is 
submitted  about  January  10th  of  each  year,  the  details  of  which 
are  given  below.  This  report  contains  summary  statements  of  the 
amounts  of  taxes  collected,  both  on  realty  and  personalty,  for  use 
in  performing  various  functions  of  government. 

(c)  Annual  report  to  councils :  An  annual  report  is  also  sub- 
mitted to  the  mayor  and  councils.  It  is  prepared  in  tabular  form, 
showing  total  assessments  for  each  of  the  following  classes  of 
property : 

(1)  "City"  real  estate,  (2)  "suburban''  real  estate,  (3)  "farm" 
real  estate,  (4)  personal  property  (including  horses  and  cattle). 

Separate  totals  for  each  of  the  above  classes  are  given  for  the 
22d,  23d,  31st,  35th  and  42d  wards  that  are  subject  to  deduction 
for  Poor  Taxes. 

(d)  Miscellaneous  reports:  The  Board  also  prepares  several 
miscellaneous  reports,  including  monthly  reports  to  the  city  con- 
troller, of  all  additions,  allowances  and  reductions  made  on  assess- 
ments ;  similar  reports  to  the  receiver  of  taxes,  and  reports  of  transfer 
of  ownership  of  properties  and  changes  in  names  to  the  Receiver  of 
Taxes.     These  reports  are  described  in  detail  on  succeeding  pages. 

b.  Clerical  Force. 

(1)  Chief  Clerk.  The  work  of  the  chief  clerk  is  described 
under  the  following  headings: 

(a)  Supervision  of  clerical  force  and  general  direction  of  the 
office  routine ;  (b)  advertisement  for  bids  for  departmental  supplies  ; 
(c)   prepare  estimates  for  approjiriations ;    (d)    publish  notices  of 


20 

hearings  on  appeals;  (e)  keep  record  of  expenditures  and  audit 
accounts ;  (f )  attend  meetings  of  Board  when  requested — keep  min- 
utes. 

(a)  Supervision  of  clerical  force  and  general  direction  of  the 
office  routine :  Most  of  the  time  of  the  chief  clerk  is  given  to  duties 
involving  the  general  administration  of  the  office.  All  clerks  are 
under  his  supervision.  He  receives  oral  reports  from  them  when 
he  deems  such  necessary,  consults  with  them  and  advises  them  as 
to  action  in  questionable  cases.  Most  of  the  directions  of  the 
Board  are  issued  to  the  staff  through  him.  He  receives  and  answers 
official  correspondence  not  requiring  the  attention  of  the  members 
of  the  Board ;  assigns  special  work  to  particular  clerks,  and  attends 
to  a  mass  of  miscellaneous  office  routine  concerning  the  details  of 
which  discussion  here  would  be  unprofitable. 

(b)  Advertisement  for  bids  for  departmental  supplies:  The 
Board  of  Eevision  purchases  all  of  its  own  supplies.  At  any  time 
during  the  year  when,  in  the  judgment  of  the  chief  clerk,  supplies 
are  needed,  by  direction  of  the  Board  he  causes  an  advertisement 
to  be  placed  in  all  daily  newspapers  to  the  effect  that  bids  will  be 
received  for  the  articles  desired.  Prospective  bidders  then  call  at 
the  office  and  the  chief  clerk  furnishes  them  with  samples.  These 
may  include  assessors^  street  blotters,  assessors'  books,  duplicates, 
triplicates,  ledgers,  blanks,  stationery,  etc.,  for  the  office,  or  mis- 
cellaneous articles.  Estimates  of  bids  are  then  submitted  in  writing 
either  upon  a  single  article  or  a  group  of  articles.  They  are  re- 
ceived by  the  chief  clerk  and  referred  to  the  Board  of  Kevision, 
which  awards  contracts.  The  chief  clerk  communicates  by  letter 
with  the  successful  bidders,  notifying  them  that  their  bids  have  been 
accepted.    'No  set  form  is  used  for  this  communication. 

The  city  solicitor  is  then  requested  to  prepare  a  contract  and 
the  necessary  bond. 

(c)  Prepare  estimates  for  appropriations:  Each  year,  when 
requested  by  the  Controller,  the  chief  clerk,  by  direction  of  the 
Board,  prepares  an  estimate  of  expenditures  for  the  forthcoming 
year  and  submits  the  same  to  the  City  Controller  as  required  by  law. 
The  estimates  are  prepared  on  forms  provided  by  the  Controller 
and  in  a  manner  prescribed  by  that  official.  Bequests  have  been 
usually  made  for  estimates  some  time  in  July  or  August. 

(d)  Publish  notices  of  hearings  on  appeals:  The  law  requires 
the  Board  to  publish  in  the  newspapers  notices  of  hearings.  Such 
notices,  stating  the  days  when  hearings  on  appeals  will  "be  heard 
by  the  Board  of  each  ward  of  the  city,  are  accordingly  published, 
conformably  to  the  provisions  of  the  ordinance  of  councils,  at  least 


21 

ten  days  before  the  hearings.  The  chief  clerk  sends  out  copy  for 
the  notices,  checks  them  up  as  they  appear,  orders  discontinuance 
and  attends  to  other  details  connected  therewith. 

(e)  Keep  record  of  expenditures  and  audit  accounts:  All  ex- 
penditures of  the  department  are  made  under  particular  items  of 
appropriation  by  councils.  The  chief  clerk  audits  all  accounts  of 
the  department  and  prepares  all  salary  warrants.  He  keeps  a  ledger 
account  for  each  item  or  item  sub-division  as  appropriated,  and 
charges  the  appropriate  account  with  the  amounts  of  warrants  as 
drawn. 

(f )  Attend  meetings  of  Board  when  requested — ^keep  minutes : 
The  chief  clerk  is  frequently  requested  to  attend  the  formal  meetings 
of  the  Board.  When  he  does  so,  he  prepares  minutes  of  the  session 
which  he  afterwards  copies  in  permanent  form  in  a  large  volume 
kept  by  him.  When  thus  rewritten,  the  minutes  are  signed  by  the 
secretary  of  the  Board  and  placed  in  the  custody  of  the  chief  clerk. 

(2)  Assistant  chief  clerh  The  duties  of  the  assistant  chief 
clerk  are  described  under  the  following  headings : 

(a)  Direction  of  clerical  work;  (b)  preparation  of  tables  of 
rates;  (c)  preparation  of  State  reports;  (d)  care  of  records  of 
exempt  properties. 

(a)  Direction  of  clerical  work :  The  assistant  chief  clerk  super- 
vises the  corps  of  miscellaneous  clerks  engaged  in  preparing  the 
duplicates,  the  local  duplicates  and  triplicates  from  the  assessors' 
books,  and  also  supervises  the  extra  clerks  engaged  during  the 
rush  season.  He  assigns  the  men  to  their  work  and  sees  that  the 
work  is  distributed  to  the  best  advantage. 

(b)  Preparation  of  tables  of  rates:  The  Board  of  Revision 
is  required  not  only  to  make  assessments  and  report  the  same  to 
the  City  Controller  and  Receiver  of  Taxes,  but  also  to  compute  the 
amount  of  tax  upon  such  property  on  the  basis  of  the  tax  rate  for 
the  class  of  property  to  which  it  may  belong.  The  assistant  chief 
clerk  is  made  responsible  for  this  work,  the  computation  being  made 
under  his  direction  by  the  miscellaneous  and  extra  clerks.  Each 
year,  after  councils  have  fixed  the  tax  rate,  the  assistant  chief  pre- 
pares a  set  of  tables  showing  rates  to  be  applied  to  each  class  of 
property,  with  the  exception  of  city  property,  which,  having  been 
in  past  years  fixed  at  $1.00,  involved  no  intricate  process  of  com- 
putation. After  completing  the  computations  he  has  the  tables 
printed  for  the  use  of  the  clerks.  State,  city  and  school  taxes  are 
all  figured  separately  and  so  recorded  in  the  duplicate  and  triplicate 
sets  of  assessors'  books. 


22 

(c)  Preparation  of  state  reports:  Two  state  reports  are  re- 
quired annually  from  the  Board  of  Eevision.  These  are  prepared 
by  the  assistant  chief  clerk  and  submitted  to  the  Board  for  their 
approval  and  signature. 

The  first  of  these  reports  is  prepared  for  the  Secretary  of  In- 
ternal Affairs  during  June  of  each  year.  It  consists  of  summary 
figures  showing: 

(1)  Total  number  of  taxables  within  the  city  (this  information 
is  obtained  from  the  city  commissioners)  ;  (2)  total  amount  of  real 
estate  assessment;  (3)  totals  for  realty  classed  as  (a)  city,  (b) 
suburban,  (c)  farm;  (4)  horses  and  cattle;  (5)  money  at  interest; 
(6)  carriages  to  hire;  (7)  total  amount  of  exempt  property;  (8) 
funded  debt  (from  City  Controller). 

This  report  is  furnished  on  forms  prepared  and  furnished  by 
the  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs.  These  statistics  are  prepared  as 
of  January  1st  of  the  year. 

A  second  report  to  the  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs  is  prepared 
by  the  assistant  chief  clerk  and  forwarded  by  the  Board  about 
January  10th  of  each  year.  This  consists  of  a  summary  statement 
of  taxes  collected  during  the  previous  years  under  the  following 
headings : 

(1)  Total  amount  of  taxes  appropriated  for  the  support  of  the 
poor,  being  the  amount  appropriated  by  councils  to  the  department 
of  public  health  and  charities;  (2)  total  amount  of  taxes  appro- 
priated  for  the  construction  and  repair  of  streets,  roads  and  bridges 
by  councils  to  the  bureau  of  highways;  (3)  amount  of  taxes  col- 
lected for  schools  and  school  purposes,  exclusive  of  state  appropria- 
tions; (4)  amount  of  taxes  collected  for  any  purposes  not  embraced 
in  1,  2  or  3  above,  whether  for  state,  county  or  local  purposes; 
(5)  total  amount  of  1,  2,  3  and  4  above;  (6)  amount  of  taxes 
collected  from  personal  property  for  city  and  state;  (7)  amount 
of  taxes  collected  on  licenses  of  all  kinds,  including  wholesale  and 
retail  liquor  licenses. 

(d)  Care  of  records  of  exempt  properties :  The  assistant  chief 
clerk  has  charge  of  the  records  relating  to  exempt  properties.  He 
prepares  these  records  himself  and  has  personal  charge  of  them. 
There  are  two  volumes  of  the  exemption  books,  one  containing  exemp- 
tions in  the  even  numibered  wards,  another  those  of  the  odd  numbered 
wards.  In  each  of  these  volumes  all  properties  are  listed  by  wards 
and  by  classes  within  the  ward.     The  following  classes  are  observed : 

(1)  Churches  and  buildings  connected  with  church  property 
used  for  guild  purposes,  Sunday  schools,  etc.,  (2)  buildings  occupied 
by  teachers  in  parochial  schools  as  places  of  residence,  (3)  cemeteries, 


23 

(4)  institutions  of  learning,  (5)  parocliial  and  free-denominational- 
schools,  (6)  public  charities,  (7)  property^  of  the  United  States, 
(8)  property  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  (9)  property  of  the 
City  of  Philadelphia,  (10)  public  libraries,  (11)  quasi-public  cor- 
porations, electric  light,  telephone  companies,  etc.,  (12)  elevated 
railways,  roadbeds. 

At  the  top  of  each  page  is  printed  the  class  of  exemption,  to- 
gether with  the  number  of  the  w^ard,  under  which  the  following  col- 
umnar headings  are  found : 

Deserip-      t^«„i,n-         t^;^,^:^..       Name  of         t>„„«  ion  t>o««,        1^12,  etc.,  to 

tion         Locality       Division         Q^^gj.  Page  1911  Page  ^^ 

Thus  each  set  of  books  provides  for  records  for  ia  ten-year  period. 

The  columnar  heading  *^Page''  refers  to  tlie  page  number  of  the 
assessors'  book  in  which  the  item  is  to  be  found,  while  under  the  year 
designated  is  placed  the  assessed  value.  Under  "Description''  is 
placed  the  dimensions  of  land  or  character  of  structure,  or  both,  as 
required. 

(3)  Regidrcdian  cleric.  The  duties  of  the  registration  clerk  are 
described  under  the  following  heads : 

(a)  Check  personal  property  assessments,  note  errors  and  re- 
port thereon  to  chief  clerk;  (b)  compare  assessors'  books  with  dupli- 
cates and  write  up  duplicates  and  triplicates. 

(a)  Check  personal  property  assessments,  note  errors  and  re- 
port thereon  to  chief  clerk :  The  principal  function  of  the  registra- 
tion clerk  is  that  of  discovering  and  rectifying  errors  that  may  have 
crept  into  the  records  of  the  assessors'  books  during  the  process  of 
entering  the  personal  assessments.  After  the  books  of  the  assessors 
are  returned  to  the  office  of  the  Board  and  placed  on  file,  the  regis- 
tration clerk  scrutinizes  each  item  contained  therein  as  to  personal 
property  and  compares  such  items  with  the  returns  made  by  the  tax- 
payer. He  is  assisted  by  a  "miscellaneous  clerk"  in  performing  this 
function.  Any  discrepancies  or  irregularities  thus  discovered  are 
noted  by  him  and  referred  to  the  proper  assessor  for  explanation  or 
correction,  after  which  they  are  reported  to  the  chief  clerk  on  printed 
forms  known  as  comparison  blanks. 

The  detail  procedure  is  as  follows :  First,  the  registration  clerk 
and  an  assistant  clerk  obtain  all  personal  property  returns  made  by 
taxpayers  and  arrange  them  to  correspond  with  the  volumes  of 
assessors'  books.  One  volume  of  the  latter  is  then  taken  up  and  each 
item  of  personal  property  contained  therein  is  carefully  checked  with 
the  original  return  of  the  taxpayer.     If  the  slightest  deviation  is 


24 

found  either  in  wording  or  spelling,  the  item  to  which  it  relates  is 
transcribed  upon  the  comparison  blank  in  the  exact  form  in  which  it 
is  found  in  the  assessors'  book,  after  which  is  noted  wherein  it  differs 
in  wording  or  spelling  from  the  original  return.  All  such  discrep- 
ancies discovered  in  the  volume  are  listed  on  one  blank,  containing 
the  above  information,  and  in  addition  the  number  of  the  ward  and 
division,  the  names  of  the  clerks  making  the  comparison,  the  names 
of  the  assessors  who  prepared  the  books,  and  blank  spaces  in  which  is 
later  inserted  the  disposition  made  of  each  item.  This  blank  is  then 
returned  to  the  chief  clerk  who  orders  the  locality  clerk  to  m^ake  the 
proper  changes  in  the  records.  The  locality  clerk  indicates  that  he 
has  done  so  by  writing  the  word  "done"  next  to  each  item  in  a  column 
of  the  comparison  blank,  after  which  he  returns  the  blank  to  the  chief 
clerk.  The  latter  official  keeps  the  blanks  on  file  for  reference  for 
some  time,  after  which  they  are  destroyed. 

(b)  Compare  assessors'  hooks  with  duplicates  and  write  up  du- 
plicates land  triplicates :  At  times  during  the  year  when,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  chief  clerk  the  proper  dispatch  of  the  business  of  the 
office  demands  it,  the  registration  clerk  is  assigned  to  assist  in  the 
work  of  comparing  the  books  returned  by  the  assessors  with  the  dupli- 
cates. He  is  also  sometimes  called  upon  to  assist  in  transcribing  the 
records  from  the  assessors'  book  to  the  duplicate  and  triplicate  sets. 

(4)  Allowance  clerk.  The  duties  of  the  allowance  clerk  are  de- 
scribed under  the  following  heads : 

(a)  Keep  records  of  application  for  hearings  on  appeals,  and 
orders  of  Board  in  relation  thereto ;  (b)  Prepare  monthly  reports  to 
Controller  of  allowances. 

(a)  Keep  records  of  application  for  hearings  on  appeals,  and 
orders  of  Board  in  relation  thereto :  The  principal  duty  of  the  allow- 
ance clerk  consists  in  keeping  the  records  relating  to  appeals.  All 
applications  for  appeals  must  be  made  on  printed  forms  supplied  by 
the  Board  of  Revision.  [For  description  of  application  blank,  see 
under  "appeals,"  Board  of  Revision.]  They  may  be  obtained  by  call- 
ing in  person  at  the  office  or  by  request  through  the  mails.  Two  sets 
of  forms  are  made  out :  one  for  personality  and  one  for  realty.  When 
the  application  is  received  it  is  given  to  the  allowance  clerk  who 
gives  it  a  number  and  makes  a  record  of  the  application  in  the  index 
which  he  keeps  for  that  purpose.  All  applications  are  marked  con- 
secutively in  the  order  in  which  they  are  filed,  and  are  then  given 
to  assessors  for  investigation.  In  the  allowance  index,  columns  are 
prepared  for  the  following  items,  under  which  information  is  recorded 
with  reference  to  each  application:      (1)   l^umber  of  application, 


25 

(2)  name  of  applicant,  (3)  property,  (4)  year  of  assessment,  (5) 
assessment,  (6)  date  of  application,  (7)  action  taken.  When  tke 
proper  record  is  tlms  made  of  tlie  application  and  the  assessors  have 
made  report,  the  allowance  clerk  hands  over  the  blank  at  the  proper 
time  to  the  Board  of  Revision  for  consideration.  After  action  by  the 
Board,  the  blank  is  returned  to  the  allowance  clerk  with  the  revised 
assessment  endorsed  on  the  outside.  This  value  is  then  recorded  in 
the  column  headed  ^^Action  taken"  in  the  application  book.  The 
original  application  is  preserved  in  the  files  of  the  office. 

(b)  Prepare  monthly  reports  to  Controller  of  allowances:  All 
allowances  or  reductions  made  by  the  Board  are  reported  monthly 
to  the  City  Controller.  These  records  are  prepared  by  the  allowance 
clerk  on  printed  forms  showing  the  name  of  the  owner  of  the  prop- 
erty, location  of  property,  year  of  assessment,  the  original  assessment, 
and  the  final  assessment  made  upon  the  property.  Two  forms  are 
used — one  for  allowances  on  real  estate  and  one  for  personal  property. 
The  former  is  prepared  on  yellow  paper  blanks  as  follows : 

Abstract  of  Allowances  on  Real  Estate  Property  by  the 
Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes  for  the  Year  191.  . 

During  the  month  of 191 . . 


Bate 


Name  of 
Owner 


Location  and 
Description 
of  Property 


Allowance 


Assessed 
Values 


Remarks 


White  paper  is  used  for  the  personal  property  reports,  which 
are  as  follows : 

Abstract  of  Allowances  qn  Personal  Property  by  the 
Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes  for  the  Year  191 .. . 

During  the  month  of 191 .  . 


Date 


Name  of 
Owner 


Location 


Money  at       tt^-,,^. 
Interest        Horses 


Cattle 


Carriages 
to  Hire 


Remarks 


In  the  colmun  for  "remarks"  should  be  noted  the  reason  for 
making  the  allowance. 


(5)  Locality  cleric.  The  duties  of  the  locality  clerk  are  de- 
scribed under  the  following  headings : 

(a)  Make  divisions  of  assessments  and  notify  Receiver  of  Taxes ; 
(b)  Monthly  report  of  divisions  to  City  Controller ;  (c)  Monthly  re- 


26 

points  of  additional  assessments;  (d)  Transmit  to  various  county  com- 
misisioners  records  of  mortgages  held  by  non-residents ;  (e)  Prepara- 
tion of  certificates  of  assessments;  (f)  Gather  statistics  regarding 
election  districts  and  draft  proposed  divisions;  (g)  Prepare  state- 
ments for  highway  and  survey  bureaus  showing  classification  of 
properties  abutting  on  streets  upon  which  municipal  improvements 
are  contemplated. 

(a)  Make  divisions  of  assessments  and  notify  Receiver  of  Taxes : 
The  locality  clerk  has  charge  of  the  records  of  transactions  relating 
to  divisions  of  assessments  of  real  estate.  After  the  assessor  has  fin- 
ished his  field  work  for  the  year  and  closed  his  books,  it  frequently 
happens  that  sales  of  real  estate  result  in  the  division  of  property 
that  has  been  assessed  as  a  single  unit.  This  necessitates  a  reassess- 
ment on  the  basis  of  the  new  ownership  of  the  properties.  The  Board 
of  Revision  is  usually  apprised  of  such  changes  by  ^a  personal  call 
from  the  new  or  original  owner,  although  the  information  may  be 
obtained  through  the  records  of  sales  or  transfers,  or  from  other 
sources.  The  locality  fclerk  then  obtains  from  the  registry  office  in 
the  bureau  of  surveys  the  official  record  of  the  transaction  showing 
the  name  of  the  new  owner,  the  exact  size  and  location  of  the  parcel 
exchanged,  etc.,  from  which  he  computes  the  proportion  of  the  original 
assessment  upon  the  whole  property  that  should  be  allotted  to  the  new 
owner. 

He  then  makes  a  record  of  the  division  in  the  "division  book'^ 
which  is  a  large  volume,  the  pages  of  which  are  alternately  left 
vacant  and  filled  by  a  printed  blank  form  as  follows : 

Philadelphia, 19 .  . 

The  property  assessed  to located 

^0 and  valued  at  $ 

has  been  divided  as  follows : 

Recommended  by 

Member  of  Board. 

On  the  opposite  blank  page  of  the  division  book  a  rough  draft  is 
made  showing  the  boundaries  and  dimensions  of  the  properties  as 
divided.  The  division  is  formally  attested  by  the  signature  of 
eome  member  of  the  Board  in  the  blank  space  noted  above. 

After  this  is  done  the  locality  clerk  prepares,  from  the  division 
book,  an  official  certificate  of  the  division  for  the  Receiver  of  Taxes, 
This  certificate  is  on  a  printed  form  7  x  8|  inches,  with  white  paper, 
as  follows : 


27 

Office  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 

Philadelphia, 19 .  , 


To  THE  Eeceivek  of  Taxes. 


Tke  property  assessed  to Located 

Ward,  and  valued  at  $ has  been  divided  as  follows : 


For  the  year  191 


Board  of  Revision. 

This  form  is  made  out  in  duplicate  and,  when  properly  filled  in, 
is  referred  to  the  Board  of  Revision,  two  of  the  members  of  which 
must  sign  it,  after  which  the  original  is  sent  to  the  office  of  the 
Receiver  of  Taxes,  while  the  duplicate  is  pasted  in  the  assessors' 
books  on  the  page  on  which  the  property  is  listed. 

(b)  Monthly  report  of  divisions  to  City  Controller:  Once  each 
month  the  locality  clerk  prepares  a  written  report  on  a  printed  form 
showing  each  division  acted  upon  during  the  month  preceding.  The 
following  printed  fo^rm  is  used : 

Divisions  Made  by  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 

During  the  month  of 191 .  . 


Ward 


Assessed  Name 


Location 


Valuation 


Divided  as 
Follows 


After  being  signed  by  the  locality  clerk,  it  is  sent  to  the  office 
of  the  City  Controller. 

(c)  Monthly  reports  of  additional  assessments:  The  locality 
clerk  likewise  prepares  monthly  reports  of  additions  to  assessments. 
These  reports  are  made  on  printed  forms  of  white  paper.  The  form 
issued  is  the  same  for  both  classes  of  property,  columnar  headings 
being  provided  as  follows : 

(1)  date,  (2)  ward,  (3)  name  of  owner,  (4)  location  of  prop- 
erty, (5)  real  estate  assessment,  (6)  money  at  interest,  (7)  horses, 
(8)  cattle,  (9)  carriages  to  hire,  (10)  remarks. 


28 

These  are  sometimes  signed  by  a  member  of  the  Board,  some- 
times by  the  chief  clerk  or  locality  clerk,  and  forwarded  to  the  office 
of  the  City  Controller. 

The  great  bulk  of  these  reports  on  additions  to  assessments  re- 
late to  personal  property,  since  most  allowances,  reductions  or  addi- 
tions on  realty  are  made  prior  to  the  date  on  which  the  books  are 
closed.  After  that  date  only  such  changes  in  assessments  of  realty 
are  made  as  are  due  to  clerical  mistakes  in  transcribing  the  records. 

(d)  Transmit  to  various  county  commissioners  records  of  mort- 
gages held  by  non-residents:  Records  of  all  mortgage  transactions 
are  furnished  by  the  Recorder  of  Deeds  to  the  Board  of  Revision. 
These  records  are  gone  over  by  the  locality  clerk,  who  lists  in  a  sort 
of  blotter  prepared  for  this  purpose  all  cases  of  mortgages  on  prop- 
erty in  Philadelphia  held  by  residents  of  other  counties  of  the  state. 
The  names  of  the  mortgagor  and  mortgagee,  residence  of  mortgagee, 
location  of  property,  amount  and  date  of  mortgage  are  placed  in  the 
blotter,  arranged  according  to  counties  in  which  the  mortgagee  re- 
sides. The  blotter  is  then  used  as  the  basis  for  monthly  reports  to 
the  various  county  commissioners,  showing  the  amounts  of  mortgages 
held  upon  Philadelphia  property  by  residents  of  these  counties.  The 
forms  used  by  the  locality  clerk  for  this  purpose  are  furnished  by 
the  state  in  book  form  with  perforated  sheets  to  be  torn  out  when 
properly  filled  in.     The  printed  form  is  as  follows: 

Form  R.-6. 

Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 

Philadelphia,  Pa., 191 .  . 

County  Commissioners : 

County : 

Gentlemen  : — In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  section  nine 
of  an  act  of  Assembly  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  ap- 
proved the  first  of  June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-nine, 
entitled  "A  further  supplement  to  an  act  entitled  ^An  act  to  provide 
revenue  by  taxation,'  approved  the  seventh  of  June,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  seventy-nine,"  we  herewith  give  you  the  statement 
therein  required : 


Mortgagor 


Mortgagee 


Residence 


Location  of 
Property 


Amount  of 
Mortgage 


Date  of 
Mortgage 


We  hereby  certify  that  the  above  is  a  true  report  of  all  Mort- 
gages or  Articles  of  Agreement  given  to  secure  the  payment  of  money 


29 

lodged  for  record  in  our  office  this  day  and  where  the  Mortgagee  re- 
sides in  your  county. 

Witness  our  Hands  and  Seal  of  office  the  day  and  year  aforesaid. 


Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes, 
Philadelphia  City  and  County. 


On  the  margin  of  this  sheet  appears  the  following : 

Form  E,.-6. 

County  Commissioners^  Office. 


County 
.191.. 


Received  the  day  and  year  aforesaid  of  Board  of  Revision  of 
Taxes,  Philadelphia  City  and  County,  a  statement  of  all  Mortgages 
or  Articles  of  Agreement  given  to  secure  the  payment  of  money  lodged 

for  record  in  their  office,  the day  of 191 .  . , 

and  where  the  Mortgagee  resides  in  this  County,  this  heing  the  report 
from  isaid  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes  required  to  be  made  by  section 
nine  of  an  act  approved  the  fi'rst  of  June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-nine,  entitled  "A  further  supplement  to  an  act  entitled 
^An  Act  to  provide  revenue  by  taxation,'  approved  the  seventh  of 
June,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-nine." 


Commissioners  of County. 

E'oTE. — This  receipt  must  be  signed  and  returned  by  mail  to  the 
Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

This  is  properly  signed  by  the  county  officials,  returned  to  the 
Board  of  Revision  and  kept  on  file  by  the  locality  clerk. 

(e)  Preparation  of  certificates  of  lassessments :  The  Board  of 
Revision  has  authority  to  furnish,  upon  request,  a  certificate  showing 
the  assessment  of  any  particular  property.  Such  a  certificate  is  re- 
quired in  certain  oases  by  the  orphans'  court  and  may  be  needed  as 
evidence  in  other  legal  procceedings.  Such  requests  when  approved 
by  the  Board  are  referred  to  the  locality  clerk,  who  obtains  from  the 
assessors'  books  on  file  the  necessary  information  and  fills  out  the 


30 

certificate  form.  A  stub  of  each  certificate  properly  filled  out  is  re- 
tained in  the  certificate  book,  the  certificate  torn  out  and  given  to  the 
applicant. 

(f)  Gather  statistics  regarding  election  districts  and  draft  pro- 
posed divisions :  The  court  of  quarter  sessions  refers  all  petitions  for 
the  re-,arrangement  of  election  districts  to  the  Board  of  Revision  for 
recommendations.  These  petitions  upon  reaching  the  Board  are  re- 
ferred to  the  locality  clerk.  This  clerk  prepares  all  statistics  relat- 
ing to  election  districts,  which  consist  chiefly  of  data  with  reference 
to  population.  When  a  change  is  proposed  in  the  boundaries  of  an 
election  district,  the  locality  clerk  draws  a  tentative  map  of  the  pro- 
posed re-arrangement  and  estimates  the  voting  population  for  each 
section  affected.  The  estimates  are  usuially  based  on  the  number 
of  dwellings  in  the  proposed  district  and  counting  one  or  two  voters 
for  each  dwelling.  Drawings  of  the  proposed  changes  are  later  made 
on  oil  paper  and  submitted,  with  any  istatistics  that  may  have  been 
gathered,  to  the  Board  for  recommendations  to  the  court.  Rough 
copies  of  all  drawings  made  are  preser^^ed  as  well  as  all  statistics. 

The  locality  clerk  is  also  sometimes  called  upon  to  make  draw- 
ings showing  proposed  changes  in  real  estate  ownership,  as  noted 
above  in  cases  of  divisions  of  property,  or  of  assessment  districts 
when  changes  in  boundaries  are  propo'sed. 

(g)  Prepare  statements  for  highway  ^nd  survey  bureaus  show- 
ing classification  of  properties  abutting  on  streets  upon  which  miinici- 
pal  improvements  are  contemplated:  When  the  city  administration 
proposes  to  pave  streets,  lay  sewers  or  make  other  improvements,  the 
Board  of  Revision  is  called  upon  to  furnish  a  classified  list  of  prop- 
erties along  the  street  upon  which  the  proposed  improvement  is  to  be 
made.  These  requests  come  either  from  the  bureau  of  highways  or 
surveys  and  are  lalways  referred  to  the  locality  clerk  for  attention. 
He  receives  them  on  printed  forms  upon  which  are  listed  all  prop- 
erties concerning  which  information  is  desired.  After  examination 
of  the  records  in  the  office,  he  notes  on  the  fomi  after  each  property 
listed  the  class  to  which  it  belongs,  i.  e.,  whether  it  is  rated  as  "city," 
"surburban,"  or  "farm"  property.  The  report  is  then  handed  to 
the  chief  clerk,  who  forwards  it  to  the  office  from  which  it  came. 

Requests  also  come  to  the  office  from  various  city  and  county 
offices  asking  for  information  concerning  the  classification  or  assess- 
ment of  certain  properties.    These  are  .all  referred  to  the  locality  clerk. 

(6)  Certificate  cleric,  (a)  Prepare  certificates  of  allowances, 
etc. :  After  the  (assessment  records  have  been  transmitted  to  the  Re- 
ceiver of  Taxes  any  alteration  or  additions  must  be  certified  by  the 
Board  to  the  office  of  the  Receiver.     The  certificate  clerk  attends  to 


31 

the  details  of  preparing  these  certifications.  A  separate  book  is  kept 
of  allowances  or  reductions,  of  additions  for  personal  property  as- 
sessment, additions  to  realty  .assessments,  and  for  changes  in  names 
of  assessed  persons.  The  books  contain  printed  certificate  forms 
which,  when  properly  filled  out,  are  detached  from  an  accompanying 
stub  which  is  retained  in  the  book  as  a  reoord  of  the  change  made. 
From  the  stub  records  entries  are  made  in  the  allowance  book,  reduc- 
tion book,  etc.  The  printed  forms  of  certificates  of  allowances  to 
personal  property  assessments  are  on  whit©  paper  made  out  in  the 
following  form: 

Ofpice  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 

Philadelphia, . 19 .  . 

Ward  (:Seal) 

This  is  to  certify.  That  we  have  this  day  made  an  allowance  of 

Dollars  on Assessed  to 

for  the  following  purposes  for  191 .  . 

$ Money  at  interest 

$ Horses  and  cattlo 

$ Carriages  to  hire 


Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 

To 

Receiver  of  Taxes. 

The  certificate  forms  for  allowances  on  real  estate  assessments 
are  similar  to  the  above. 

When  changes  in  names  are  made  in  the  assessment  records  the 
following  form  prepared  on  yellow  paper  is  used : 

Receiver  of  Taxes. 

Will  correct  on  the  name  of  the  owner  of  property 

on  Tax  Duplicate  for  the  year  191 .  .. 

valued  at by  erasing  the  name  of 

and  inserting 


Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 


32 

Additions  to  assessments  are  certified  to  the  Receiver  of  Taxes 
on  similar  forms. 

(7)  Special  clerk,  (a)  Custody  of  assessors'  books:  When  the 
assessors'  books  are  completed  for  the  year  they  are  placed  on  file 
for  public  inspection  at  all  hours  of  the  day  when  the  office  is 
open  for  business.  These  books  are  arranged  by  wards,  and  all  the 
books  pertaining  to  one  ward  are  filed  together.  When  an  assess- 
ment district  comprises  more  than  one  ward,  valuations  of  property 
in  one  ward  of  the  district  are  always  kept  in  volumes  separate 
from  those  in  the  other.  In  other  words,  ward  lines  are  kept  in- 
tact, and  properties  lying  in  one  ward  are  never  placed  in  the  same 
volume  in  which  valuations  in  another  ward,  even  though  in  the 
same  district,  are  to  be  found.  There  are  165  volumes  in  a  com- 
plete set  of  assessors'  books  for  one  year.  (For  forms  of  assessors' 
books  see  discussion  under  assessors.) 

The  assessors'  books  while  on  file  in  the  oflSce  are  in  the  direct 
custody  of  the  special  clerk,  who  sees  to  it  that  the  books  are 
properly  arranged  and  kept  in  the  proper  order  when  returned  to 
the  files  after  inspection  by  a  taxpayer.  He  assists  visitors  in  finding 
information  desired  and,  in  general,  is  made  immediately  responsible 
for  the  proper  care  and  safe  keeping  of  these  records. 

After  having  been  on  file  in  the  public  rooms  for  a  year,  the 
assessors'  books  are  replaced  by  the  books  of  the  succeeding  year, 
and  taken  to  the  office  of  the  receiver  of  taxes,  where  they  are  kept 
for  five  years  as  records  for  the  use  of  the  search  clerks.  At  the 
expiration  of  that  period  they  are  returned  to  the  office  of  the 
Board  of  Revision  and  placed  on  permanent  files  in  the  archives. 

(8)  Miscellaneous  clerk,  (a)  Assists  special  clerk  in  charge 
of  public  records:  One  of  the  miscellaneous  clerks  is  detailed  to 
the  special  duty  of  assisting  the  special  clerk  in  caring  for  the  as- 
sessors' books  in  the  public  room  and  assisting  visitors  in  search 
of  information  contained  in  the  public  records.  His  duties  are 
similar  to  those  described  above  with  reference  to  the  special  clerk 
to  whom  he  is  immediately  responsible. 

(9)  Miscellaneous  clerks  (2).  The  duties  of  the  miscellaneous 
clerks  are  described  under  the  following  headings: 

(a)  Keep  record  of  real  estate  sales ;  (b)  keep  records  of  mort- 
gage transactions;  (c)  keep  records  of  building  permits  issued. 

(a)  Keep  record  of  real  estate  sales:  One  of  the  miscellaneous 
clerks  is  assigned  as  a  "sales  clerk."  The  Board  of  Revision  obtains 
from  the  Land  Title  Company   (each  day)    a  complete  record  of 


33 


all  sales  of  property  witlim  the  city.  Tliese  certificates  are  in  the 
form  of  yellow  slips  (carbon  copies)  showing  the  deed  number  of 
each  transfer,  the  name  of  the  grantor,  the  name  of  the  grantee, 
consideration  and  incumbrance.  This  information  is  supplemented 
by  records  of  transfer,  obtained  from  the  registry  office  of  the  bureau 
of  surveys.  The  sales  clerk  takes  the  yellow  slips,  assorts  them  into 
assessors'  districts  and  from  them  makes  a  record  of  each  sale  in 
a  volume  known  as  the  real  estate  sales  book.  Each  page  of  the 
latter  provides  space  for  information  as  follows : 


District .Ward 


Assessors. 


street 
Number 


Description 

of 

Property 


Mortgages 


Ground 
Rent 


Cost  Total 


Value 


Date  of 
Sale 


From  the  record  thus  shown  in  the  real  estate  sales  book,  the 
stenographer  fills  out  corresponding  slips,  with  spaces  at  the  right 
for  remarks  by  the  assessors — one  for  each  assessor's  district.  These 
are  forwarded  to  the  proper  assessors,  who  investigate  each  item 
listed  and  report  by  inserting  in  the  column  for  remarks  any  changes 
in  assessment  which  the  added  information  may  lead  them  to  make, 
or  any  remarks  showing  reasons  for  not  changing  former  records, 
and  signing  the  slip.  The  slip  is  then  returned  to  the  office  of 
the  Board  of  Eevision,  scrutinized  by  the  chief  clerk  and  handed 
to  the  Board  for  inspection  and  directions.  If  no  changes  are  made 
by  the  Board  in  the  assessors'  report,  the  slip  is  filed.  If  changes 
are  inserted,  the  slip  is  returned  to  the  assessors,  who  record  in 
their  books  the  corrections  made  by  the  Board,  after  which  they 
return  the  slip  for  filing. 

(b)  Keep  records  of  mortgage  transactions:  Another  duty  of 
the  two  miscellaneous  clerks  is  to  obtain  records  of  mortgage  tran- 
sactions and  prepare  these  records  for  the  use  of  the  assessor.  The 
recorder  of  deeds  furnishes  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Eevision, 
semi-monthly,  with  an  itemized  list  of  all  mortgages  on  Philadel- 
phia property  filed  during  the  two  weeks'  period  immediately  pre- 
ceding. The  clerks  go  through  these  records,  note  the  assessors' 
district  in  which  the  property  involved  is  located  and  make  a  copy 
of  the  transaction  in  the  mortgage  book  for  that  district.  A  volume 
for  these  mortgage  records  is  prepared  for  each  of  the  thirty-five 
3 


34 

assessors'  districts,  so  that  each  set  of  assessors  has  a  separate  volume 
containing  a  record  of  transactions  occurring  in  the  district  in  which 
they  operate.  In  the  books  the  clerks  list  the  items  in  the  order  of 
the  date  of  transfer,  showing  in  each  instance : 

(1)  Mortgagor,  (2)  mortgagee,  (3)  residence  of  mortgagee, 
(4)  locality  of  property,  (5)  amount  of  mortgage,  (6)  date  of 
mortgage. 

For  each  district  there  is  likewise  an  additional  volume  con- 
taining records  of  assignments.  These  differ  from  the  books  de- 
scribed above  only  in  that  they  contain  an  additional  column  for 
the  insertion  of  the  name  of  the  assignee. 

These  records  are  for  the  use  of  the  assessors  to  aid  them  in 
estimating  values,  and  for  checking  up  the  returns  of  personal 
property. 

(c)  Keep  records  of  building  permits  issued :  One  of  the  clerks 
imder  discussion  makes  a  daily  visit  to  the  bureau  of  building  in- 
spection, and  obtains  from  the  records  of  that  office  a  list  of  all 
building  permits  issued  during  the  preceding  day.  These  he  lists 
in  the  order  of  the  permit  number  in  a  huge  volume  known  as  the 
building  permit  record  book,  each  page  of  which  is  provided  with 
the  following  columnar  headings : 

(1)  'No.  of  permit,  (2)  date  issued,  (3)  location  of  property, 
(4)  ward,  (5)  owner,  (6)  material,  (7)  size  of  building — (a)  front, 

(b)  depth — (8)  stories  high,  (9)  No.  of ,  (10)  estimated  cost, 

(11)  classification,  (12)  remarks. 

This  volume  is  kepit  on  file  for  inspection  of  the  assessors. 

(10)  Miscellcmeous  clerks  (18).  (a)  Make  duplicates,  local 
duplicates  and  triplicates  of  assessors'  books. 

The  law  requires  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes  to  supply  the 
Receiver  of  Taxes  and  the  City  Controller  respectively  with  dupli- 
cates and  triplicates  of  the  assessment  records.  Duplicates  are  also 
prepared  for  use  in  the  branch  tax  offices.  This  involves  the  necessity 
of  making  two  complete  sets,  and  parts  of  another  set,  of  the  as- 
sessors' books,  in  addition  to  the  original  set  prepared  by  the  as- 
sessors for  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Revision  itself.  The  duty 
of  preparing  these  duplicates  and  triplicates  is  assigned  to  the  mis- 
cellaneous clerks  in  the  office,  working  under  the  direct  supervision 
of  the  assistant  chief  clerk.  The  duplicates  and  triplicates  resemble 
the  original  assessors'  books  in  size,  shape  and  general  make  up, 
although  the  contents  differ.  Following  is  a  facsimile  of  a  portion 
of  a  page  showing  column  headings : 


35 


street 
Number 


Name  of 
Taxables 


Valuation 

Real 

Estate, 

Dollars 


Valuation 

Personal 

Property, 

City, 

Dollars 


CITY  TAX 


Dols.    Cts. 


SCHOOL 
TAX 


Dols.    Cts. 


Valuation 

Personal 

Property, 

State, 

Dollars 


STATE 
TAX 


Dols.    Cts. 


As  in  the  case  of  tlie  original  assessors'  books,  tlie  duplicates 
and  triplicates  are  in  large  bound  volumes.  The  volumes  are  made 
out  by  wards  and  divided  arbitrarily  into  convenient  divisions,  each 
item  on  each  page  of  each  volume  corresponding  to  the  original 
item  in  the  original  books.  The  volumes  are  indexed  by  streets 
arranged  in  alphabetical  order,  all  numbers  of  one  street  being 
grouped  on  the  same  page  or  pages.  Under  the  columnar  heading 
"jSTames  of  Taxables"  is  included  not  only  the  name  of  the  owner 
of  the  property  but  also  the  dimensions  of  the  lot,  if  the  property 
is  realty,  or  the  character  of  the  property  if  it  is  personalty.  Per- 
sonal property  is  denoted  as  "money,"  "horses,"  "cattle"  or  "car- 
riages to  hire,"  as  the  case  may  be. 

After  the  assessed  values  of  all  taxable  property  have  thus  been 
copied  in  the  duplicate  and  triplicate  sets,  the  miscellaneous  clerks 
proceed  to  compute  the  amount  of  tax  to  be  imposed  upon  each 
property  in  accordance  with  the  tax  rate  fixed  by  councils  for  the 
class  of  property  to  which  it  belongs.  As  noted  in  the  above  form, 
computations  for  city,  school  and  state  taxes  are  made  separately. 
The  tax  levy  when  thus  derived  is  placed  in  the  books,  which  pro- 
cess completes  the  duplicate  and  triplicate  sets. 

Tables  prepared  by  the  assistant  chief  clerk  are  used  by  the 
clerks  in  computing  the  taxes.  After  results  are  copied,  totals  are 
carefully  checked  page  by  page,  the  amounts  bein^  copied  on  re- 
capitulation sheets,  which  are  in  turn  checked  by  comparison  with 
the  total  obtained  by  applying  the  tax  rate  to  the  total  assessed 
valuation.  The  process  of  checking  these  computations  necessitates 
extremely  accurate  work,  and  only  the  most  competent  of  the  clerks 
are  assigned  to  this  duty. 

In  order  to  distribute  the  work  of  the  miscellaneous  clerks  as 
uniformly  as  possible  throughout  the  year,  the  following  schedule 
is  usually  observed: 

(1)  As  rapidly  as  the  assessors  complete  the  preliminary  work 
on  the  assessors'  books,  which  consists  in  copying  therein  the  names 
of  owners,  street  numbers  and  description  of  properties,  these  vol- 
umes are  turned  over  temporarily  to  the  assistant  chief  clerk,  who 
immediately  assigns  miscellaneous  clerks  to  the  task  of  transcribing 
their  contents  into  the  duplicates.  This  process  may  begin  as  early 
as  June  or  July  and  last  continuously  from  this  time  until  the  time 
when  hearings  by  the  Board  are  closed  and  the  books  prepared  in 


36 

final  form.  Tliis  date  is  always  before  December  31st,  but  is  fixed 
by  the  Board  with  tbe  view  to  allowing  enougk  time  to  have  the 
duplicates  ready  when  the  books  must  be  opened  by  the  Receiver  of 
Taxes.  This  latter  date  is  fixed  by  the  legislature  and  varies  from 
year  to  year;  e.  g.,  in  1912  and  1913  it  was  January  10th.  In 
some  other  years  it  was  January  20th,  etc. 

(2)  When  the  hearing  of  appeals  has  closed  and  the  Board 
has  acted  upon  those  made,  the  assessors  copy  the  valuations  into 
the  assessors'  books  and  hand  the  latter  over  to  the  assistant  chief. 
The  clerks  then  place  in  final  shape  the  duplicate  sets  and  local 
duplicates.  This  occupies  their  attention  until  about  January  10th, 
when  the  duplicates  must  be  delivered  to  the  Receiver  of  Taxes. 
In  order  to  complete  the  task  within  the  allotted  time  extra  clerks 
are  engaged  and  the  thus  augmented  force  placed  on  regular  day 
and  night  shifts.  There  are  about  sixty-five  volumes  of  the  duplicate 
set  furnished  the  Receiver,  and  forty-three  volumes  of  these  are 
recopied  for  use  in  the  eight  branch  tax  offices.  The  forty-three 
extra  volumes  are  known  as  the  local  duplicates. 

(3)  Immediately  upon  completion  of  the  duplicate  and  local 
duplicate  sets,  the  clerks  are  engaged  in  copying  the  triplicate  sets 
of  sixty-five  volumes  for  the  office  of  the  City  Controller.  This  work 
is  done  with  all  possible  speed,  so  that  the  books  may  go  to  the 
controller  at  an  early  day. 

(11)  Extra  clerks,  (a)  Assist  miscellaneous  clerks  during  rush 
season.     (See  10 — (2) — above.) 

(12)  Stenographer,  (a)  Render  stenographic  service  for  mem- 
bers of  Board,  etc. 

In  addition  to  attending  to  the  ordinary  stenographic  duties 
of  the  office,  the  stenographer  likewise  has  miscellaneous  functions 
to  perform,  such,  for  instance,  as  preparing  monthly  transcripts  of 
all  deeds  of  sale,  showing  the  consideration  therein  named  for  the 
transfer  of  properties,  and  furnishing  each  assessment  district 
with  them. 

(13)  Doorkeeper,  (a)  The  primary  duty  of  the  doorkeeper  is 
to  perform  miscellaneous  services  in  the  outer  office  of  the  Board 
of  Revision.  He  sees  that  visitors  are  cared  for,  gets  them  in  touch 
with  the  official  with  whom  they  wish  to  communicate,  directs  the 
public  to  assessors  when  those  officials  are  wanted,  and  performs 
various  services  of  a  similar  nature. 

(14)  Janitors  (2).    (a)  Cleaning  service. 


37 

C.   ASSESSOES  (70). 

For  convenience  in  discussing  methods  and  procedure  employed 
bj  assessors  in  fixing  values  the  following  classification  of  the  subject 
may  be  made: 

(1)  Assessment  of  real  estate:  (a)  Organization  of  districts 
and  assignment  of  assessors;  (b)  time  of  making  assessments;  (c) 
forms  and  devices  used  by  assessors;  (d)  methods  employed  in 
arriving  at  values.  (2)  Assessment  of  personal  property.  (3)  ]N"o- 
tice  of  changes  in  assessments  and  of  hearings  on  appeals.  (4) 
Preparation  of  assessors'  books.  (5)  Preparation  and  submission 
of  reports  to  the  Board:  (a)  Monthly  report  on  buildings  and  im- 
provements ;  (b)  monthly  report  on  sales ;  (c)  report  on  appeals  from 
assessments;  (d)  reports  of  changes  in  use  of  exempt  property. 
(6)  Designation  of  changes  in  street  numbers  and  report  to  chief 
clerk. 

(1)  Assessment  of  real  estate,  (a)  Organization  of  districts 
and  assignment  of  assessors :  The  Board  of  Revision,  or  a  majority 
ef  the  Board,  creates  assessment  districts  and  alters  the  boundaries 
and  adds  new  districts  when  it  deems  such  action  necessary  or 
desirable.  There  are  at  present  thirty-five  assessment  districts  with- 
in the  city,  the  average  size  being  somewhat  larger  than  the  ward. 
Following  is  a  list  of  assessment  districts  as  at  present  arranged, 
with  boundaries : 

Districts. 

First — 1st  ward. 

Second — 26th  ward  and  that  portion  of  the  30th  ward  east  of 

Twenty-first  street 
Third— 2d,  3d  and  4th  wards. 
Fourth— 5th,  6th,  11th  and  12th  wards. 
Fifth— 7th  and  8th  wards. 
Sixth — 9th  and  10th  wards. 
Seventh — 13  th,  14th,  16th,  17th  wards  and  that  part  of  the 

20th  ward  south  of  Master  street. 
Eighth — 15th  and  47th  wards. 
IN'inth — That  part  of  the  30th  ward  west  of  Twenty-first  street, 

and  that  part  of  the  36th  ward  north  of  Reed  street. 
Tenth — 18th  ward   and  that  part  of  the   31st  ward   east  of 

Frankford  avenue. 
Eleventh — That  part  of  the  20th  ward  north  of  Master  street 

and  that  part  of  the  32d  ward  east  of  Broad  street  and 

all  of  the  37th  ward. 


38 

Twelfth — 29th  ward  and  that  part  of  the  32d  ward  west  of 
Broad  street. 

Thirteenth — 19th  ward  and  that  part  of  the  31st  ward  west 
of  Frankford  avenue. 

Fourteenth — 25th  ward  and  that  part  of  the  45th  ward  south 
of  Wheatsheaf  lane  and  west  of  Frankford  avenue. 

Fifteenth— 33d  ward. 

Sixteenth — 35  th  ward. 

Seventeenth — That  part  of  the  22d  ward  bounded  by  Eoberts 
avenue,  Stenton  avenue,  Haines  street,  Germantown  ave- 
nue, Washington  lane  and  Wissahickon  avenue. 

Eighteenth — That  part  of  the  2 2d  ward  bounded  by  Haines 
street,  Germantown  avenue,  Washington  lane,  Wissahickon 
avenue,  Northwestern  avenue  and  Stenton  avenue. 

N'ineteenth — ^That  part  of  the  42 d  ward  east  of  York  Road. 

Twentieth — 24th  ward. 

Twenty-first — 44th  ward  and  that  part  of  the  34th  ward  east 
of  Fifty-sixth  street,  between  Market  street  and  Columbia 
avenue,  and  east  of  Fifty-fourth  street,  between  Columbia 
avenue  and  City  avenue. 

Twenty-second — That  part  of  the  46th  ward  south  of  Spruce 
street. 

Twenty-third— 27th  ward  and  that  part  of  the  46th  ward  north 
of  Spruce  street. 

Twenty-fourth — 28th  ward. 

Twenty-fifth — ^2 3d  ward  and  that  part  of  the  45th  ward  north 
of  Wheatsheaf  lane  and  east  of  Frankford  avenue. 

Twenty-sixth — ^That  part  of  the  43d  ward  east  of  Broad  street. 

Twenty-seventh — 21st  ward. 

Twenty-eighth — All  that  part  of  the  34th  ward  west  of  Fifty- 
sixth  street,  between  Market  street  and  Columbia  avenue, 
and  west  of  Fifty-fourth  street,  between  Columbia  avenue 
and  City  avenue. 

Twenty-ninth — 38th  ward. 

Thirtieth — 41st  ward. 

Thirty-first— That  part  of  the  40th  ward  north  of  the  P.,  W. 
&  B.  E.  R. 

Thirty-second — 39th  ward. 

Thirty-third — That  part  of  the  36th  ward  south  of  Reed  street. 

Thirty-fourth — ^That  part  of  the  42d  ward  west  of  York  Road, 
and  that  part  of  the  43d  ward  west  of  Broad  street. 

Thirty-fifth— That  part  of  the  40th  ward  south  of  the  P.,  W. 
&  B.  R.  R. 


39 

The  law  requires  that  two  assessors  be  assigned  to  eacli  district. 
The  Board  appoints  assessors  for  terms  of  five  years  and  assigns  them 
to  districts.  In  making  the  assignment  it  follows  the  legal  pro- 
vision that  one  of  the  two  assessors  must  be  of  the  majority  political 
party  and  the  other  a  member  of  any  minority  political  party.  If 
assessors  prove  competent  and  satisfactory,  it  is  the  policy  of  the 
Board  to  reappoint  them.  As  a  rule,  the  most  competent  men, 
or  men  oldest  in  the  service,  are  assigned  to  work  in  districts  in 
which  the  most  complicated  problems  arise.  An  attempt  is  also 
made  to  place  inexperienced  men  or  less  competent  men  in  the  same 
district  with  older  and  more  competent  men. 

(b)  Time  of  making  assessment:  Triennial  assessments  are 
required  by  law  with  such  additional  assessments  in  the  interim 
as  may  be  considered  necessary.  In  practice  assessments  are  made 
annually.  'No  exact  dates  are  fixed  for  the  beginning  or  close  of 
the  work,  as  the  time  varies  from  year  to  year.  In  general,  the 
process  involves  three  steps,  viz.:  (1)  Field  work,  (2)  serving 
notices  of  hearings  on  appeals,  (3)  recording  results.  Field  work 
usually  begins  early  in  the  spring,  rarely  later  than  April  15th,  and 
continues  until  the  task  is  completed.  October  1st  is  commonly 
the  date  for  closing  this  part  of  the  work.  In  many  districts 
assessments  are  completed  much  before  this  time,  in  which  case 
a  review  is  made  later  to  check  up  earlier  results,  note  additional 
improvements,  etc.  About  October  1st  the  assessors  begin  to  serve 
notices  of  hearings  to  be  held  by  the  Board.  The  general  period 
for  hearings  is  between  October  1st  and  November  15th,  the  dates 
being  fixed  annually  by  the  Board.  From  the  time  when  hearings 
are  closed  to  January  10th  the  assessors  are  engaged  in  recording 
values  in  the  assessors'  books. 

(c)  Forms  and  devices  used  by  assessors.  (1)  Street  blotters: 
The  street  blotter  is  the  name  applied  to  the  principal  book  kept 
by  each  assessor  for  the  purpose  of  recording  all  data  upon  which 
he  bases  assessments,  together  with  the  assessed  values.  It  is  pre- 
pared with  printed  columnar  headings  as  follows : 


House  Number 


Name  of  Owner 


Real  Estate  Value 


Remarks 


Properties  are  here  listed  by  streets  for  each  district  and  in  the 
order  of  street  number,  the  even  and  the  odd  numbers  being  listed 
separately.  Each  assessor  keeps  his  own  book  to  suit  his  convenience. 
It  remains  in  his  possession  from  year  to  year.  As  a  rule,  a  great 
amount  of  information  is  recorded  in  this  book  for  which  no  space 
is  provided  in  the  columnar  headings.     The  first  column,  as  sho^vn 


40 

above,  often  includes  the  plot  number  as  sbown  on  tbe  records  of 
the  registry  office  of  the  bureau  of  surveys.  Under  the  name  of 
the  o^vner  is  also  placed  the  dimensions  of  the  lot,  together  with 
a  description  of  the  character  of  the  structure  and  kind  of  material 
used  in  its  construction.  The  column  for  remarks  is  utilized  for 
miscellaneous  information  of  all  kinds. 

One  volume  is  used  for  several  successive  years.  When  no 
change  is  made  in  an  assessment  the  figures  are  left  untouched. 
If  a  change  is  made,  the  revised  figure  is  usually  placed  in  the  col- 
umn for  "remarks"  with  tbe  year  of  the  assessment  indicated. 

The  number  of  blotters  for  one  district  varies  necessarily  with 
tlie  number  of  properties  to  be  listed.  In  some  districts  more  than 
twenty  blotters  are  required. 

(2)  Personal  property  book:  This  is  a  small  volume  bound 
in  leather  and  made  of  a  size  convenient  for  pocket  use.  In  it  the 
assessor  inserts  his  assessments  on  personality  of  all  descriptions. 
It  is  prepared  with  columnar  headings  to  show  (a)  place  of  resi- 
dence, (b)  name  of  owner,  (c)  money  at  interest,  (d)  horses, 
(e)  cattle,  (f)  carriages  to  hire.  Properties  are  listed  under  names 
of  owners  arranged  according  to  street  nimibers  in  exactly  the 
same  way  as  the  assessors'  books  and  street  blotters.  Some  assessors 
place  personal  property  valuations  directly  in  the  street  blotters, 
but  such  is  not  the  prevailing  practice. 

(3)  Transfer  book:  Some  of  the  assessors  make  use  of  a  "trans- 
fer book"  for  the  purpose  of  listing  all  records  of  transfers  of  prop- 
erty. These  records  are  obtained  by  the  assessor  personally  from 
the  registry  office,  bureau  of  surveys.  The  transfer  book  is  prepared 
with  printed  columnar  headings  as  follows: 

(a)  Date  of  deed,  (b)  former  owner,  (c)  present  owner,  (d) 
street,  (e)  registry,  (f)  lot  and  plot  number,  (g)  description  (includ- 
ing location  of  property),   (h)  lot  (size). 

(4)  Building  permit  book:  As  has  been  noted  above  (see 
page  39),  two  miscellaneous  clerks  obtain  daily  from  the  bureau 
©f  building  inspection  a  copy  of  all  records  of  building  permits 
issued  by  that  bureau.  Each  assessor  goes  over  this  book  each  month, 
notes  all  instances  of  permits  granted  for  improvements  within  his 
district  and  copies  such  into  his  own  permit  book.  There  is  no 
prescribed  form  for  the  permit  book,  each  assessor  recording  the 
information  which  he  considers  helpful  to  him  according  to  his  own 
convenience.  The  record  maintained  by  one  assessor  showed  the 
following : 

(a)  Permit  number,  (b)  date  of  issue,  (c)  location  of  property, 


41 

(d)  owner's  name,  (e)  character  of  improvement  and  material,  (f) 
size  of  the  improvement  (including  number  of  buildings  and  height 
of  each),  (g)  estimated  cost  of  construction;  two  additional  col- 
umns— ^(h)  check  when  the  property  is  inspected,  (i)  assessment 
value  placed  on  the  property. 

(5)  Eecords  of  sales,  mortgages,  etc.:  As  described  in  connec- 
tion with  the  duties  of  the  miscellaneous  clerk  (the  one  assigned  as 
sales  clerk),  all  sales  records  are  reported  monthly  to  the  assessors 
on  printed  forms.  Mortgage  records  are  arranged  by  assessors' 
districts  and  furnished  the  assessors  in  this  form  by  clerks  in  the 
office  of  the  Board.  The  assessor  usually  makes  a  note  in  his 
street  blotter  of  sales  data  thus  obtained  before  returning  this  form 
to  the  office  of  the  Board.  The  mortgage  records  he  refers  to 
constantly. 

(6)  Maps,  etc. :  Atlases  and  maps  are  purchased  by  the  Board 
of  Eevision.  Atlases  contain  detailed  maps  of  the  city  arranged 
by  sections  giving  lot  dimensions  and  showing  in  colors  the  character 
of  improvements  thereon.  These  maps  are  revised  from  time  to 
time  by  the  publishers.  One  copy  of  each  atlas  is  kept  in  the 
office  of  the  Board  and  one  in  the  assessors'  room  for  examination 
and  inspection  by  them  as  desired. 

(d)  Methods  employed  in  arriving  at  values.  There  are  no 
prescribed  rules  or  regulations  to  be  followed  by  the  assessors  in 
arriving  at  values.  The  details  of  method  are  left  to  each  individual 
assessor,  since  neither  the  law,  nor  the  Board,  to  whom  the  law 
has  delegated  the  authority,  have  fixed  any  specific  requirements. 
Accordingly,  no  two  assessors  employ  exactly  the  same  methods, 
although  certain  general  principles  are  followed  by  all.  These  may 
be  described  under  the  following  headings: 

(1)  Sales  records,  (2)  mortgage  records,  (3)  procedure  with- 
out sales  records,  (4)  rental  values,  (5)  separation  of  land  and  im- 
provement value,  (6)  land  values,  (7)  building  values,  (8)  water 
front  values. 

(1)  Sales  records:  The  law  requires  that  the  assessor  shall 
"justly  and  honestly,  to  the  best  of  (his)  judgment,  assess  and  value 
every  separate  lot,  piece  or  tract  of  land,  with  the  improvement 
thereon,  and  all  personal  property  made  taxable  by  the  laws  of  this 
commonwealth  within  (his)  ward,  or  district,  at  the  rate  or  price 
which  (he)  shall,  after  due  examination  and  consideration,  believe 
the  same  would  sell  for,  if  sold  singly  and  separately  at  a  bona  fide 
sale,  after  full  public  notice." 

The  aim  of  the  assessor  is  thus  to  arrive  at  the  sales  value 


42 

of  each  piece  of  property,  or  the  price  which  the  property  would 
command  at  a  bona  fide  sale  after  full  public  notice.  Hence,  in 
assessing  any  particular  property,  whether  with  or  without  im-> 
provemeuts,  the  assessor  first  seeks  to  discover  whether  there  has 
been  a  recent  sale.  This  information  he  obtains  from  the  sales 
records.  If  he  finds  there  has  been  a  sale,  he  next  inquires  as  to 
the  nature  of  the  sale,  i.  e.,  whether  the  transfer  was  made  under 
conditions  that  meet  the  legal  requirement  of  "full  public  notice.^' 
A  notice  posted  on  the  premises  apprising  the  general  public  that 
the  property  was  on  the  market,  placing  the  transaction  in  the  hands 
of  real  estate  agents,  advertising  the  property  for  sale,  or  the  ex- 
istence of  a  general  knowledge  in  the  community  to  the  effect  that 
the  owner  desired  to  sell — any  of  these  conditions  are  considered  by 
the  assessor  as  meeting  the  requirements  of  a  full  public  notice,  and 
the  price  paid,  as  shown  by  the  records,  would  be  accepted,  in  the 
absence  of  evidence  to  the  contrary,  as  the  true  value  of  the  property. 
The  actual  sale  need  not  have  been  a  public  one. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  transfer  made  without  any  general  knowl- 
edge of  the  desire  or  willingness  of  the  owner  to  sell,  or  one  entered 
into  between  relatives,  where  the  presumption  may  be  that  other 
factors  than  the  real  value  of  the  property  have  determined  the 
consideration,  is  not  accepted  by  the  assessor  as  a  sale  "after  full 
public  notice,"  nor  the  price  paid  as  indicative  of  the  full  value. 
The  consideration,  however,  is  accepted  tentatively  as  evidence  of 
probable  value.  Similarly,  when  a  sale  is  not  sufficiently  recent  or 
for  other  reasons  not  acceptable  as  evidence,  it  is  not  taken  by 
assessors  as  a  safe  index  of  value. 

Approximately  80  per  cent,  of  all  sales  records  do  not  divulge 
the  price  paid  in  the  transaction,  the  consideration  being  recorded 
as  "nominal."  In  many  other  instances  the  consideration  recorded 
is  manifestly  inadequate.  It  is  thus  usually  necessary  for  the  as- 
sessor to  seek  information  as  to  the  selling  pri-ce  from  some  source 
other  than  the  records.  In  such  cases,  he  visits  the  buyer,  seller  or 
some  other  person  who  may  have  an  interest  in  or  knowledge  of 
the  transaction.  Some  assessors  apparently  meet  with  fair  success 
in  getting  the  desired  figures  in  this  way,  while  others  declare  it 
almost  impos'sible  to  obtain  reliable  data. 

In  cases  where  the  selling  price  is  accepted  as  a  correct  valua- 
tion, some  assessors  consider  it  a  sufficient  basis  for  raising  or 
lowering  proportionately  all  values  in  the  neighborhood.  Others  wait 
for  another  sale  or  two,  and,  if  all  indicate  a  similar  tendency  of 
decline  or  increase,  a  wholesale  readjustment  of  assessments  in  the 
neighborhood  may  be  made. 

If  no  sales  data  are  obtained  as  a  basis  for  assessment,  the 


43 

assessor  may  turn  to  the  building  permit  records  to  see  whether 
any  improvements  have  been  authorized  on  the  property.  This  he 
verifies  by  personal  inspection,  and,  unless  such  an  improvement  hag 
been  authorized  and  made,  he  usually  permits  the  assessment  of  the 
previous  year  to  stand  unaltered. 

(2)  Mortgage  records:  Mortgage  records  are  used  by  the 
assessor  primarily  for  personal  property  assessment.  In  connection 
with  real  estate  they  serve  as  a  means  of  checking  up  a  value  rather 
than  fixing  it.  A  trust  company  mortgage  is  usually  regarded  as  rep- 
resenting about  three-fifths  of  the  full  value  of  the  property  mort- 
gaged, and  should  therefore  be  about  60  per  cent,  of  the  assessment. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  ratio  of  a  building  'association  mortgage  to  the 
total  value  is  more  variable  and  does  not  furnish  a  reliable  guide  for 
assessment  purposes.  Most  assessors  take  into  consideration  this  dis- 
tinction when  using  the  mortgage  records. 

(3)  Procedure  without  sales  records:  After  securing  any  in- 
formation available  in  the  mortgage  or  sales  record  or  the  building 
permits,  the  assessor  next  seeks  to  find  recent  sales  records  for  similar 
property  in  the  same  neighborhood.  He  may  discover  a  sales  record 
of  one  or  more  lots  of  substantially  the  same  size  and  similar  location 
with  much  the  same  kind  of  improvements.  He  then  investigates  the 
conditions  of  the  sales  to  determine  if  possible  whether  the  consider- 
ation paid  actually  represented  the  value  of  the  property.  If  the 
facts  thus  ascertained  are  conclusive,  he  takes  the  value  of  the  second 
property  as  a  guide,  and  assesses  the  property  in  question  accord- 
ingly. In  thus  assessing  by  comparison,  he  is  expected  to  keep  in 
mind  differences  in  improvements,  size  of  lots,  grade,  frontage,  etc. 

It  is  sometimes  difficult  or  impossible  to  find  sales  records  that 
can  be  utilized,  in  which  case  the  assessor  may  make  a  tentative 
assessment  which  he  considers  high,  following  this  up  with  a  notifica- 
tion to  the  owner  of  the  assessment  as  made.  This  procedure  is  cal- 
culated to  provoke  a  protest  from  the  owner,  in  which  case  he  is  re- 
quired to  take  oath  stating  his  opinion  as  to  what  the  property  would 
sell  for.  If  he  states  a  figure  lower  than  the  assessment,  the  value 
is  usually  changed  to  conform  thereto.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
tentative  assessment  is  lower  than  the  amount  which  the  owner  would 
be  willing  to  accept  for  his  property,  he  is  not  likely  to  protest  the 
assessment.  In  following  this  procedure,  the  assessor  relies  ulti- 
mately upon  the  sworn  statement  of  the  owner  as  to  what  he  con- 
siders the  value  of  his  property. 

(4)  Rentals  values:  Rentals  are  commonly  used  in  estimating 
assessments  in  residential  districts  in  which  considerable  uniformity 
exists  in  size  and  structure.     The  annual  rental  value  is  capitalized 


44 

at  from  6  per  cent,  to  10  per  cent.,  depending  upon  the  section  of  the 
citj  in  which  the  property  is  located.  Rentals  are  not,  however,  con- 
sidered in  fixing  values  for  business  properties  nor  in  the  more  elah- 
orate  residential  sections. 

(5)  Separation  of  land  and  improvement  values:  Particularly 
in  the  business  districts,  in  residential  sections  where  structures  differ 
radically  from  each  other,  and  along  the  water  front,  it  has  been 
found  extremely  difficult  to  arrive  at  lump  sum  values  by  comparison 
because  there  is  no  adequate  basis  for  comparison.  Some  assessors 
have  therefore  found  it  desirable  and  even  necessary  to  estimate  the 
values  of  structures  and  the  land  separately,  and  thus  to  make  pos- 
sible a  fair  comparison  between  one  property  the  value  of  which  is 
unknown  and  another  situated  in  the  same  neighborhood  the  value 
of  which  has  already  been  determined. 

The  method  followed  in  making  such  a  separation  may  be  illus- 
trated as  follows:  Parcel  A  and  parcel  B  have  approximately  the 
same  frontage  on  the  same  street,  but  the  improvements  on  A  are  of 
an  entirely  different  character  from  those  of  B.  A  has  recently  been 
sold  for  $500,000,  which,  for  the  assessor's  purpose,  may  be  consid- 
ered as  the  assessed  value.  B,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  on  the  mar- 
ket, has  not  changed  ownership  for  many  years,  and  there  is  no  other 
data  available  for  making  an  appraisal.  The  assessor  first  estimates 
the  value  of  the  structural  improvements  upon  A  (say  at  $400,000), 
deducts  this  amount  from  the  total  assessed  value,  $500,000,  which 
leaves  $100,000  as  the  value  of  A  without  improvements.  Parcel  A 
and  B  being  comparable  so  far  as  location,  size,  grading,  etc.,  is  con- 
cerned, the  value  of  the  unimproved  parcel  B  is  estimated  at  a  like 
figure  of  $100,000.  The  final  step  is  to  appraise  the  structure  on  B, 
add  this  to  $100,000,  the  derived  value  of  the  lot,  and  thus  obtain  a 
total  valuation  for  B  with  its  improvement.  The  separate  values  for 
land  and  improvements  are  not  as  a  rule  placed  in  the  street  blotters, 
although  in  some  instances  this  is  done. 

(6)  Land  values:  Assessors  appraise  land  and  improvements 
separately  in  the  downtown  districts,  in  several  outlying  sections,  and 
along  the  water  front.  Several  methods  are  employed,  but  most  of 
them  are  based  upon  a  front  foot  unit.  By  front  foot  value,  as  used 
throughout  this  description,  is  meant  the  value  of  a  strip  of  land 
with  a  frontage  along  the  street  of  one  foot  and  extending  to  the  rear 
of  the  particular  lot  in  question.  It  implies  no  uniform  depth.  Land 
values  are  based  originally  upon  sales,  the  front  foot  value  being  ob- 
tained by  dividing  the  total  land  value  by  the  number  of  feet  of 
frontage.  This  front  foot  unit  is  then  applied  to  lots  of  similar 
depths  throughout  the  block,  unless  there  exists  some  peculiar  factor 


45 

which  would  tend  to  increase  or  decrease  the  value  of  la  particular 
parcel. 

When  a  lot  is  of  a  different  depth  from  the  one  from  which  the 
standard  value  is  fixed,  its  front  foot  value  is  derived  by  a  compari- 
son of  the  two  depths;  taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  the 
value  of  a  lot  is  distributed  uniformly  from  front  to  rear  but  gradu- 
ally decreases  with  the  distance  from  the  street.  It  is  estimated  that 
the  value  of  the  first  50  feet  of  a  100-foot  lot  is  equal  to  about  two- 
thirds  of  its  total  value.  Assume,  for  example,  the  value  of  lot  A  to 
have  been  determined  from  sales,  and  the  front  foot  value  fixed.  The 
adjacent  lot,  B,  is  then  estimated  at  a  similar  front  foot  value  if  it 
is  of  the  same  depth  (assuming  that  both  are  inside  lots  and  unaffected 
by  corners).  But  if  lot  B  is  only  half  the  depth  of  lot  A,  its  front 
foot  value  will  be  fixed  at  two-thirds  that  of  lot  A.  This  rule  is  ap- 
plied to  business  property  exclusively. 

Another  method  employed  is  to  fix  a  front  foot  value  for  lots 
in  a  block,  basing  it  upon  the  prevailing  depth.  If  a  block  contains 
ten  lots  facing  a  street,  seven  of  v^nhich  are  of  the  same  depth,  and  a 
front  foot  value  is  established  for  the  block  on  the  basis  of  a  depth  of 
100  feet,  values  for  the  remaining  lots  witih  varying  depths  are  ob- 
tained by  comparing  their  areas  expressed  in  square  feet  with  the 
square  foot  area  of  a  lot  of  standard  or  normal  depth.  To  illustrate, 
suppose  lot  A  with  a  normal  depth  of  100  feet  is  10  feet  wide  and 
has  a  front  foot  value  of  $10,000.  Its  total  assessed  value  will  then 
be  $100,000.  Lot  B,  an  adjacent  inside  lot,  has  a  depth  of  only  50 
feet  and  a  width  of  10  feet.  To  obtain  the  value  of  B,  both  lots  A 
and  B  are  reduced  to  square  feet.  It  is  found  that  B  contains  500 
square  feet,  or  one-half  tliat  of  A,  which  has  1,000  square  feet.  The 
value  of  B  is  therefore  one-half  that  of  A,  or  $50,000.  This  method 
is  used  in  districts  where  there  is  considerable  uniformity  in  depths 
of  lots. 

Becognition  is  usually  given  to  the  difference  in  value  lots  may 
have  because  of  varying  depths,  but  only  rough  estimates  are  made 
of  such  differences.  In  one  district,  for  example,  100  feet  is  taken 
as  the  normial  depth,  and  if  a  lot  extends  beyond  this  the  pro  rata 
rate  of  increase  falls  off  25  per  cent,  as  the  depth  of  the  lot  goes  be- 
yond 100  feet. 

Lots  of  irregular  shape,  i.  e.,  lots  that  deviate  from  rectangular 
lines,  are  sometimes  estimated  by  square  foot  comparison  with  reg- 
ular lots  of  labout  the  same  deplih.  At  other  times  their  value  is  es- 
timated roughly,  the  assessor  using  his  judgment  and  experience  in 
determining  the  purpose  for  which  the  lot  could  be  used  to  the  best 
advantage  and  the  probable  price  it  would  bring  on  the  market  for 
such  purpose.    He  may  also  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  some 


46 

part  of  such  a  lot  may  kave  a  special  value  as  an  addition  to  an  ad- 
joining lot. 

It  is  usually  estimated  tJiat  comer  business  lots  liave  an  in- 
creased value  over  similar  inside  lots  of  from  12^  to  30  per  cent.^  the 
exact  percentage  being  dependent  upon  the  importance  of  the  streets. 
In  some  localities  the  influence  of  the  street  corner  extends  about 
50  feet  back  from  the  intersection  of  the  streets  and  may  thus 
affect  the  values  of  one  or  two  lots  adjoining  the  corner  lot.  In 
others  no  additional  value  attaches  to  a  lot  next  to  the  corner,  and 
the  assessments  are  made  accordingly.  Most  assessors  recognize  the 
enhanced  value  of  a  corner  position  by  simply  adding  a  lump  sum 
additional  value  to  that  estimated  for  inside  lots. 

No  prescribed  or  uniform  method  is  used  for  determining  the 
influence  of  an  alley  opening,  but  an  increased  value  due  to  an  alley 
is  recognized  land  taken  into  account. 

(7)  Building  values:  Most  assessors  accept  the  estimates  in 
building  permits  as  representing  structural  values  with  sufficient  ac- 
curacy and  make  no  attempt  to  verify  them  beyond  making  a  personal 
inspection  and  checking  up  the  official  description  of  tbe  improve- 
ment. On  the  other  hand,  some  assessors  assert  that  these  estimates 
cannot  be  relied  upon  in  all  cases  to  indicate  accurate  values.  These 
assessors  therefore  make  a  computation  by  obtaining  the  number  of 
square  feet  of  floor  space  in  the  building  and  multiplying  this  by  the 
estimated  cost  per  isquare  foot.  The  square  foot  factor  or  unit  is  ob- 
tained from  building  contractors  or  from  the  assessor's  personal 
knowledge  of  the  <50st  of  materials.  Tbe  cubic  method  is  lalso  used, 
but  it  is  said  to  be  less  satisfactory  for  ordinary  business  and  office 
structures.  For  factories,  however,  and,  by  some  assessors,  for  resi- 
dential structures,  it  is  sometimes  preferred. 

A  structure  or  improveiment  to  a  structure  which  is  partially 
completed  when  the  assessments  for  the  year  lare  closed  is  assessed  at 
a  figure  which  bears  the  same  proportion  to  the  total  value  as  the 
completed  part  of  the  building  bears  to  the  finished  structure.  That 
is,  if  an  improvement  is  half  completed,  it  is  assessed  at  half  its 
total  value. 

Depreciation  of  structures  is  allowed  for  when  there  are  visi- 
ble signs  of  wear.  If  a  structure  is  kept  in  :an  improved  condition 
and  continues  to  be  suitable  for  the  purposes  for  which  its  location  is 
best  adapted,  nothing  is  allowed  for  depreciation. 

(8)  Water  front  values:  The  most  valuable  water  front  of  the 
city  is  assessed  on  the  basis  of  land  value  plus  improvements.  The 
land  value  is  estimated  on  a  running  foot  basis,  values  gradually  re- 
ceding north  and  south  from  Market  and  Chestnut  street  piers  on  the 


47 

Delaware  river,  where  land  is  assessed  at  about  $1,500  per  front  foot. 
The  front  foot  rule,  however,  is  not  applied  to  plots  that  are  too  small 
to  be  used  for  wharf  purposes.  These  are  valued  at  what  they  would 
be  likely  to  command  as  additions  to  adjacent  properties. 

Improvements  are  estimated  on  the  basis  of  from  $1.50  to  $2.00 
per  square  foot  for  ordinary  business  piers.  This  includes  pilings 
as  well  as  floor  space,  and  represents  cost  of  construction.  From  this 
deductions  are  made  for  poor  condition  and  additions  for  unusually 
expensive  piers.  The  sum  of  the  land  and  improvement  values  rep- 
resents the  total  assessment. 

(2)  Assessment  of  personal  property.  Blanks  upon  which  per- 
sonal property  returns  are  ix)  be  miade  have  in  past  years  been  fur- 
nished by  the  Auditor  General  of  the  state.  By  virtue  of  recent  state 
legislation,  however,  the  Board  of  Revision  will  in  the  future  pre- 
scribe the  forms  to  be  used.  The  following  is  the  form  to  be  used 
hereafter : 

EETURN'  OF  PERSOI^AL  PROPERTY 

SUBJECT  TO  TAXATION  AT  THE  RATE  OF  FOUR  MILLS  OI^  THE  DOLLAR 

For  the  Year  1914 

Under  the  Provisions  of  the  Act  of  June  17,  1913, 

Made  by of  Philadelphia  County,  Penna. 

^OTE : — ^Instructions  will  be  found  on  page  3  of  this  blank. 

]N'o  correction  of  this  Return  can  be  made  after  December  31, 
1913. 

All  applications  for  corrections  must  be  made  prior  to  that  date. 

1.  Mortgages,  irrespective  of  the  location  of  the  prop- 

erty on  which  the  mortgage  is  secured,  the  residence 

of  the  mortgagor  or  whether  interest  is  paid  thereon  $ 

2.  Promissory  ^N'otes^  Penal  and  Single  Bills,  irre- 

spective of  the  residence  of  the  makers  thereof $ 

3.  Judgments  held  by  the  person,  firm  or  corporation 

making  this  return $ 

4.  Bonds  given  by  individuals $ 

,    5.  Public  Loans  or  Bonds  issued  by  any  State  or  Terri- 
tory, the  District  of  Columbia,  any  foreign  country, 

or  any  county,  city,  borough,  township,  school  dis- 
trict or  incorporated  district,  except  those  issued  by 


48 

the  State  of  Pennsylvania  or  by  any  county,  city, 
borough,  township,  school  district  or  incorporated 
district  thereof $ 

6.  Loans  secured  by  bonds  or  any  other  form  of  certifi- 
cate or  evidence  of  indebtedness,  including  car  trust 
securities,  issued  by  any  corporation,  association, 
company  or  limited  partnership  formed  under  the 
laws  of  this  State  or  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any 
other  State  or  Government,  except  loans  issued  by 
corporations  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  or  by  such 
foreign  corporations  as  are  liable  to  taxation  in 
this  State   $ 

1.  Shares  of  Stock  of  any  bank  (except  national  banks), 
corporation,  association,  company  or  limited  part- 
nership formed  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
any  foreign  Government  or  any  State  other  than  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania $ , 

8.  Articles  of  Agreement  and  Accounts,  bearino:  in- 

terest • $. 

9.  Annuities  yielding  annually  over  $200.00 $. 

10.  Stages^  Omnibuses^  Hacks^  Cabs  and  other  vehicles 

used  for  transporting  passengers  for  hire    (except 

Steam  and  Street  Passenger  Railway  Oars) $ . 

TOTAL $, 

(Horses  and  Oattle  are  subject  to  taxation  for  city  and 
school  purposes  at  the  same  rate  as  real  estate.) 

Horses,  Value,  $ . 

Cattle  over  the  age  of  4  years,  Value,  $. 

IE  THIS  COLUMlSr  Els^TER  PROPERTY  HELD 
IIST  TRUST. 

Trustee, 

Executor, 

Administrator, 

Guardian, 

Assignee, 

Committee, 

Receiver, 

Agent, 

Attorney  in  Fact, 

(Erase  titles  not  used.) 


Estate  of 


49 

1.  Mortgages,  irrespective  of  the  location  of  the  prop- 

erty on  which  the  mortgage  is  secured,  the  residence 
of  the  mortgagor  or  whether  interest  is  paid  thereon  $, 

2.  Peomissory  ISToTEs,  Pej^al  and  Single  Bills,  irre- 

spective of  the  residence  of  the  makers  thereof $ . 

3.  Judgments  held  by  the  person,  firm  or  corporation 

making  this  return   $ . 

4.  Bonds  given  by  individuals $ , 

5.  Public  Loans  or  Bonds  issued  by  any  State  or  Terri- 

tory, the  District  of  Columbia,  any  foreign  country, 
or  any  county,  city,  borough,  township,  school  dis- 
trict or  incorporated  district,  except  those  issued  by 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  or  by  any  county,  city, 
borough,  township,  school  district  or  incorporated 
district  thereof ., $, 

6.  Loans  secured  by  bonds  or  any  other  form  of  certifi- 

cate or  evidence  of  indebtedness,  including  car  trust 
securities,  issued  by  any  corporation,  association, 
company  or  limited  partnership  formed  under  the 
laws  of  this  State  or  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any 
other  State  or  Government,  except  loans  issued  by 
corporations  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  or  by  such 
foreign  corporations  as  are  liable  to  taxation  in 
this  State $ 

7.  Shares  of  Stock  of  any  bank  (except  national  banks), 

corporation,  association,  company  or  limited  part- 
nership formed  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
any  foreign  Government  or  any  State  other  than  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania $. 

8.  Articles  of  Agreement  and  Accounts,  bearing  in- 

terest    $. 

9.  Annuities  yielding  annually  over  $200.00 $. 

10.  Stages,  Omnibuses,  Hacks,  Cabs  and  other  vehicles 

used  for  transporting  passengers  for  hire    (except 

Steam  and  Street  Passenger  Railway  Cars) $. 

TOTAL $. 


STATE  OF  PENNSYLVAISriA,  )       . 

CITY  a:n^d  cou:n^ty  of  Philadelphia,  I  ^*  * 

,  being  duly ,  deposes  and  says — 

residence  (or  the  principal  office  of  the  corporations,  limited  part- 
nerships or  co-partnerships  of  which  he  is  Treasurer)  is  at  N'o 

4 


50 

....Street,    Ward,    in   the    City    of   Philadelphia, 

Pa.,  and  the  foregoing  return  is  a  full,  true  and  correct  statement, 
to  the  hest  of knowledge  and  belief,  of  all  personal  prop- 
erty owned  or  held  in  trust  by that  is  subject  to  taxation 

for  the  year  1914,  under  the  laws  of  this  State. 


191 


to   and   subscribed   before   me   this .day   of 


(^OTE. — Taxables  who  have  Judgments,  Mortgages,  etc.,  en- 
tered of  record  in  the  several  counties  of  this  State,  absolutely 
worthless  at  the  date  of  this  Assessment  will  save  time  and  expense 
of  attending  the  appeal  by  filling  out  this  part  of  the  blank  and 
being  qualified  to  the  same,  otherwise,  in  case  of  appeal,  they  will 
have  to  appear  before  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes.) 

Philadelphia  County,  ss.: 

,  heing  duly ,  deposes  and  says:. 

owns  and  has  control  of  the  following  Judgments,  Mortgages,  etc, 
which  are  absolutely  worthless  and  the  person  or  persons  against 
ivhom  held  are  totally  insolvent  and  the  amount  uncollectible  at  the 
date  of  this  assessment. 


PLAINTIFF 

DEFENDANT 

Dollars 

Ota. 

REMARKS 





-— 



Taxable, 


and  subscribed day  of. 


1913, 


51 


INSTRUCTIONS. 

a.  Every  person  twenty-one  years  of  age  and  upwards,  being  a 
resident  of  or  domiciled  within  this  State,  and  every  co-partnership 
and  unincorporated  association  located  or  doing  business  in  this 
Commonwealth,  and  every  corporation,  limited  partnership  and  joint 
stock  association  not  specifically  exempted,  owning  or  holding  any 
personal  property  of  the  classes  enumerated  in  Section  1  of  the  Act 
of  June  17,  1913,  and  set  forth  specifically  in  the  questions  upon 
page  1  of  this  blank,  whether  the  same  be  held  in  his,  her  or  its 
own  rights  or  as  trustee,  executor,  administrator,  guardian,  assignee, 
committee,  receiver,  attorney  in  fact,  agent,  or  in  any  other  manner, 
for  the  use  and  benefit  of  some  other  person  or  corporation,  is 
required  each  year  to  make  return  to  the  assessors,  under  oath,  of 
the  amount  of  such  property. 

b.  Property  of  minors  is  taxable  in  the  name  of  the  guardian. 

c.  The  domicile  of  the  taxpayer  is  where  he  permanently  re- 
sides. Absence  for  months  or  years  will  not  change  it,  so  long  as 
there  is  an  intention  of  returning,  and  it  cannot  be  lost  until  another 
has  been  acquired.  He  is  there  liable  to  taxation  upon  all  his 
personal  property,  whether  it  be  within  or  without  the  state.  A 
temporary  residence  in  this  state  renders  taxable  only  so  much  of 
his  personal  property  as  he  has  actually  within  the  state. 

d.  The  residence  of  the  trustee,  executor,  etc.,  and  not  the 
residence  of  the  person  or  persons  beneficially  interested  in  the 
estate,  determines  liability  for  the  personal  property  tax. 

e.  The  words,  "free  of  tax,"  printed  on  certain  bonds  do  not 
in  any  way  relieve  the  holders  of  such  bonds  from  liability  for  the 
tax  thereon.  These  words  mean  only  that  the  company  issuing  the 
bonds  will  refund  to  the  holder  the  tax  paid  on  them.  Such  bonds, 
if  falling  within  any  of  the  classes  enumerated  on  page  1,  must  be 
included  in  this  return. 

f.  Unincorporated  associations  and  corporations  of  the  first 
class  (i.  e,,  those  organized  not  for  profit),  except  purely  charitable 
institutions,  must  make  this  return  the  same  as  individuals. 

g.  Private  banking  and  brokerage  firms,  as  well  as  the  individual 
members  thereof,  must  make  this  return. 

h.  Building  and  loan  associations,  savings  institutions  having 
no  capital  stock,  fire  companies  and  firemen's  relief  associations,  life 
and  fire  insurance  corporations  having  no  capital  stock,  secret  and 
beneficial  societies,  labor  unions  and  labor  union  relief  associations 
and  beneficial  organizations  paying  sick  or  death  benefits  from  funds 


52 

received  from  voluntary  contributions  or  assessments  upon  members^ 
are  not  required  to  make  this  return. 

i.  Pennsylvania  corporations  or  foreign  corporations  paying  a 
capital  stock  tax  direct  to  the  Commonwealth  upon  reports  filed 
witb  the  Auditor  General's  Department  are  not  required  to  make 
this  return  of  personal  property  owned  by  them  in  their  own  right 
to  the  local  assessors,  but  they  must  return  to  the  local  assessors 
all  personal  property  held  by  them  as  trustee,  executor,  administrator, 
guardian  or  in  any  other  manner.  This  is  not  to  be  construed  as 
relieving  the  individual  from  returning  to  the  local  assessors  the 
capital  stock  of  foreign  corporations  held  by  him. 

j.  The  return  of  Personal  Property  should  be  read  carefully 
before  making  any  entries.  It  must  be  made  out  by  ANSWERIKG 
SPECIFICALLY  EACH  QUESTIOE^  on  page  1  of  the  blank, 
inserting  the  word  NOl^E  or  the  amount  taxable  after  the  questions. 
It  must  be  sworn  to  before  the  assessors  or  some  person  authorized 
to  administer  oaths,  and  must  be  EETURlSrED  to  the  proper  officer 
within  TEl!^  days  from  the  date  of  the  delivery  of  the  blank  at  the 
dwelling  house  or  place  of  business  of  each  taxable. 

k.  If  the  person  served  has  no  personal  property  taxable,  he 
should  answer  the  questions  by  writing  the  word  NONE  opposite 
each  item,  make  oath  to  the  Return  and  give  the  same  to  the 
assessors. 

1.  In  case  no  return  is  made  within  ten  days  the  assessors  are 
REQUIRED  to  make  an  estimated  assessment,  to  which  50  per 
cent,  will  be  added,  as  required  by  law. 

m.  If  any  taxpayer  shall  enter  into  any  arrangement  or  under- 
standing with  an  assessor  whereby  the  return  made  by  such  taxpayer 
shows  a  less  amount  of  property  than  he  really  owns,  both  parties 
will  be  guilty  of  conspiracy,  and,  upon  conviction,  will  be  liable 
to  a  fine  of  $1,000  and  to  undergo  an  imprisonment  of  not  over 
three  years. 

n.  The  making  of  a  false  or  fraudulent  return  is  willful  and 
corrupt  perjury,  and  the  person  making  the  same  shall  be  subject 
to  pay  a  fine  not  exceeding  $500  and  to  undergo  an  imprisonment 
not  exceeding  seven  years,  and  to  be  forever  disqualified  from  being 
a  witness. 


53 

1914 

EETUE]^  OF  PERSOIS^AL  PROPERTY 

Subject  to  Taxation  for  the  Year  1914,  made  by 

Ward. 

This  return  must  be  made  out  by  you  and  returned  to  the 

undersigned  within   T'EN  DAYS   from 1913, 

sworn  or  affirmed  to  before  tJie  Assessor  or  any  other  person  au- 
thorized to  administer  outlis,  of  the  truth  of  the  facts  therein  stated. 
In  default  of  such  Return,  the  ASSESSORS  ARE  REQUIRED 
to  make  out  an  estimated  Return  of  your  taxable  personal  property, 
to  which  a  penalty  of  50  per  cent,  must  be  added  in  accordance  with 
the  Act  of  Assembly  herein  referred  to. 

NOTE. — ^EACH  question  on  page  one  of  this  blank  must  be 
answered  SPECIFICALLY  by  inserting  the  word  ISTONE  or  the 
AM0U:N^T  taxable,  after  each  item. 

Read  Third  Page  Carefully 


As  the  act  of  June  17,  1913,  makes  the  4  miU  tax  a  city  tax,  any 
change  in  returns  or  estimates  must  be  made  prior  to  December  31, 
1913,  instead  of  August  1,  1914.  The  Board  has  enclosed  the  fol- 
lowing special  form  on  pink  paper  with  the  above-mentioned  blank 
for  the  return  of  personal  property  tax. 

Office  of  the  Boakd  of  Revision  of  Taxes, 

Room  180,  City  Hall,  Philadelphia. 

SPECIAL  E^^OTICE  TO  TAXPAYERS. 

Heretofore  personal  taxes  were  assessed  for  state  purposes,  and 
the  assessments  were  subject  to  correction  up  to  August  1st  of  the 
current  year. 

For  the  year  *1 9 14,  and  thereafter,  these  taxes  are  assessed  ex- 
clusively for  municipal  purposes,  and  form  the  basis  of  part  of  the 
borrowing  capacity  of  the  city. 

All  applications  for  changes  in  personal  returns  or  estimates 
mtist  he  rriade  prior  to  December  31,  191 S,  After  that  date  no  such 
corrections  can  he  made. 

By  order  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 

ALBERT  LIST, 

Chief  Clerk. 


54 

The  Board  of  Revision  has  prepared  the  following  instructions 
to  assessors  regarding  the  personal  property  tax. 

Direction  to  the  Assessors  Relative  to  the  Assessment  of  Personal 
Property  Subject  to  the  Jf  Mill  Tax;  Generally  hnoivn  as 
''Money  at  Interest." 

1.  The  prescribed  blank  form,  upon  which  the  return  is  to  be 
made,  must  be  'served  upon  every  adult  person  in  the  different 
assessment  districts  except  those  who,  from  their  pursuits  and  their 
mode  of  living,  can  fairly  be  presumed  to  be  without  taxable  personal 
property.  It  must  be  served  upon  all  persons  who,  according  to  the 
records,  are  the  ovniers  of  mortgages  or  judgments. 

2.  A  record  must  be  kept  in  a  small  blotter  of  the  name  and 
residence  of  every  person  upon  whom  the  blank  form  is  served,  or 
to  whom  notice  of  an  estimated  assessment  is  given.  Reference  to 
this  record  will  enable  you,  if  necessary,  to  make  affidavit  to  the 
fact  of  service  of  these  papers. 

3.  If  any  person  upon  whom  the  blank  form  has  been  served 
fails  to  make  a  return  within  the  time  named  on  the  blank,  such 
person  must  be  notified  of  an  estimated  assessment. 

The  amounts  of  such  estimates,  in  the  absence  of  positive  in- 
formation to  guide  you,  should  be  determined  by  the  exercise  of 
the  best  judgment  of  which  you  are  capable. 

Before  fixing  the  amount  of  an  estimate,  see  whether  any 
allowance  or  correction  of  the  estimate  of  the  same  person  for  the 
preceding  year  has  been  made  by  the  Board  of  Revision. 

Former  estimates  must  not  be  continued  on  the  supposition  that 
they  are  correct,  unless  you  are  unable  to  get  fresh  information  which 
will  guide  you  in  making  your  new  estimate. 

4.  Returns  or  estimated  assessments  should  first  be  carefully 
entered  in  the  blotters.  Before  doing  this,  see  that  the  addition 
of  the  different  items  in  the  return  is  correct;  and  that  the  amount 
returned  individually,  and  that  returned  in  a  re'j^reseniative  or 
fiduciary  capacity,  are  kept  distinct  and  not  lumped  as  a  single 
sum.  When  the  return  or  estimate  is  transferred  from  the  blotter 
to  the  assessment  book,  there  should  be  another  comparison  with 
the  original  return  or  notice  of  estimate  for  the  purpose  of  assuring 
the  correctness  of  the  entry. 

In  making  the  entry  in  the  assessment  book,  be  particular  to 
write  "R,"  in  the  remark  column,  for  a  Return,  and  "E"  for  an 
Estimate;  and  always  be  sure  that  the  location  of  the  assessment 
is  that  named  by  the  person  making  the  return  and  not  that  written 
by  the  assessor  on  the  back  of  the  blank. 


55 

Be  careful  that  the  decimal  point,  if  used,  is  properly  placed. 
Misplacing  it  might  turn  $500.00  into  $50,000. 

Where  ^^Monej  at  interest"  is  assessed  to  the  owner  of  real 
estate,  the  entry  should  be  made,  in  the  "Money  at  interest"  column, 
on  the  same  line  upon  which  the  name  of  the  owner  is  written. 
Where  assessed  to  a  person  other  than  the  owner  of  the  real  estate, 
be  careful  to  enter  the  assessment  on  the  same  line  on  which  the 
name  of  the  person  assessed  is  written. 

5.  Where  any  person  whom  you  have  served  with  a  blank  tells 
you  that  he  prefers  to  make  his  return  in  another  district — where 
he  either  lives  or  has  his  place  of  business — send  him  to  the  assessors 
of  that  district,  and  be  sure  to  give  them  the  name  and  address 
of  the  person  so  sent.  By  so  doing  a  duplicate  assessment,  due 
to  a  Eeturn  made  in  one  district  and  an  Estimated  assessment  in 
another,  will  be  avoided. 

Miscellaneous  Directions. 

1.  In  entering  assessments  of  horses  and  cattle,  state  the  num- 
ber, either  returned  or  estimated. 

2.  ]^ot  later  than  a  date  of  which  the  assessors  will  be  notified, 
they  must  make  a  final  comparison  of  the  entries  of  both  real  and 
personal  property  in  the  assessment  books  with  their  blotters;  and 
if  they  find  any  errors  or  omissions,  or  if  any  changes  should  be 
m^ade  in  names  or  otherwise,  the  same  must  be  reported  to  the  as:: 
sistant  chief  clerk.  They  are  not  at  liberty  to  make  the  alterations 
themselves. 

Relative  to  Hearing  Appeals. 

On  the  days  fixed  for  hearing  appeals,  and  at  all  other  times 
when  taxpayers  have  any  complaint  to  make  in  regard  to  assessments, 
remember  to  be  courteous,  patient  and  free  from  irritability.  Bear 
in  mind  the  fact  that  any  person  who  wishes  to  appeal  has  the  right 
to  do  so;  and  do  not  forget  that  many  of  those  who  appeal  believe 
they  have  a  real  grievance,  and  are  so  far  affected  by  this  belief  as 
at  times  to  lose  their  accustomed  self-control. 


The  form  which  has  been  used  in  the  past  is  the  one  described 
below*  The  assessors  usually  receive  the  blanks  in  September  or 
early  in  October.  In  theory  they  are  supposed  to  deliver  in  person 
lone  of  the  blanks  to  each  taxable  person  or  corporation  within  their 

*This  form,  now   obsolete,  is  omitted. 


66 

several  districts.  In  practice,  in  making  this  distribution,  assessors 
exercise  discretion,  supported  by  records  of  mortgages  and  judgments 
in  tbe  office  of  the  Board,  and  other  information  which  justifies  the 
assumption  that  a  given  individual  possesses  taxable  personal  prop- 
erty. Each  person  believed  to  be  taxable  is  served  with  one  of  the 
prepared  blank  forms. 

Upon  receipt  of  the  return  blank,  signed  and  sworn  to,  the 
assessor  copies  the  valuations  in  the  assessor's  book,  classing  the 
items  as  moneys  at  interest,  horses,  cattle  and  carriages  to  hire. 

If  any  taxable  person  or  corporation  refuses  or  neglects  to  return 
the  blank  within  ten  days  after  receipt,  as  required  by  law,  the 
assessor,  either  in  person  or  by  mail,  serves  a  second  notice,  the 
printed  form  of  which  is  as  follows : 

Office  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 
City  Hall,  Room  180,  Western  Entrance. 

Philadelphia^ 19 .  . 

Dear  Sie: — Upon. .we  left  at  your  residence  a 

"Blank"  for  the  return  of  Personal  Property  subject  to  taxation  for 
19 .  . .  Up  to  the  present  time  such  return  has  not  been  made  by  you. 
Kindly  give  this  matter  your  immediate  attention,  thereby  avoiding 
the  necessity  of  our  being  compelled  to  make  an  estimate. 

The  ten  days  named  upon  the  face  of  the  blank  having  expired, 
it  will  now  be  necessary  for  you  to  make  return  at  the  Board  of  Re- 
vision of  Taxes,  City  Hall,  Room  'No.  180  or  183  (from  9  A.  M. 
to  3  P.  M.). 

Respectfully, 

Assessors. 


If  no  response  is  made  to  the  second  notice,  the  assessor  makes 
an  estimate  of  the  amount  of  taxable  personalty  owned  by  the  indi- 
vidual. This  estimate  is  based  upon  mortgage  and  judgment  records 
plus  other  information  the  assessor  may  obtain.  The  Board  of  Re- 
vision then  adds  50  per  cent,  to  the  estimate  as  a  penalty  for  neglect- 
ing to  make  returns  as  required  by  law.  This  action  is  followed  up 
by  the  assessor  by  serving  the  taxpayer  with  the  following  notice, 
prepared  on  a  printed  form,  blue  paper: 


67 

Office  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 
Room  180,  City  Hall,  Philadelpliia. 

SPECIAL  ISTOTICE. 

To  Taxable  Persons,  Co-Partnerships,  Unincorporated  Associations, 
Limited  Partnerships,  Joint-Stock  Associations  and  Corpora- 
tions, of  Estimated  Assessment  of  Personal  Property  Subject  to 
Taxation. 

Philadelphia, 1909. 

A  blank  form  for  return  of  personal  property  subject  to  taxa- 
tion for  the  year  19 ... .  was  addressed  to  you  and  served  at 

on  the day  of 19. . .  .    As  you  have  refused  or  failed 

to  make  a  return,  properly  verified  by  oath  or  aflSrmation,  as  required 
by  law,  within  ten  days  after  being  notified  so  to  do,  it  becomes  our 
duty  to  make  an  estimated  return  of  such  personal  property  for  you, 
from  the  best  information  we  can  obtain. 

We  have,  therefore,  assessed  such  property  at ,  to 

which  assessment  the  Board  of  Revision  will  add  a  penalty  of  fifty 
per  centum,  as  required  by  law.  If,  on  or  before  the  day  fixed  for 
appeals  from  assessments,  you  shall  present  reasons,  supported  by 
oath  or  affirmation,  satisfactory  to  the  Board  of  Revision,  excusing 
your  failure  to  make  the  proper  return,  and  shall  then  make  such 
return,  the  Board  of  Revision  will  substitute  it  for  the  estimated 
assessment. 

Your  appeal  will  be  heard  on between  the  hours  of 

9  A.  M.  and  3  P.  M.,  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes, 
Room  180,  City  Hall,  West  Side. 

Assessors. 


(3)  Notice  of  changes  in  assessments  and  of  hearings  on  appeals. 
As  soon  as  values  are  determined  by  the  assessors  they  are  inserted  in 
the  street  blotter,  or  the  personal  property  tax  book  if  such  is  kept. 
Early  in  October  the  Board  of  Revision  usually  decides  upon  dates 
when  hearings  shall  be  held,  and  publishes  notices  thereof  in  the 
newspapers.  The  assessors  go  through  the  list  of  taxable  owners 
within  their  several  districts,  note  those  whose  assessments  have  been 
changed,  and  serve  each  with  a  notice  of  the  assessment  and  the  date 
of  hearing  on  a  printed  form  made  out  as  follows : 


58 


Office  of  the  Board  of  Hevisiox  of  Taxes. 
Eoom  180,  City  Hall,  Philadelpliia. 

isTOTicE  OF  assessme;n^t. 

Philadelphia, 191S. 

To or  Owner 

You  are  hereby  notified  that  we  have  assessed  your 

REAL  ESTATE  for  the  year  1914 

at  such  rates  and  prices  as,  after  due  examination  and  consideration, 
we  believe  the  same  would  sell  for,  if  sold  singly  and  separately,  at 
a  bona  fide  sale  after  full  public  notice — and  that  in  default  of  a 
return  from  you,  we  have  made  the  following  estimated  assessment 
of  your  horses,  mules,  cattle,  and  carriages  to  hire,  subject  to  taxa- 
tion, as  follows: 

Real  Estate, $ 

Horses  and  Mules, ^ 

Cattle, 

Carriages  and  Other  Vehicles  (to  hire), 

'No Value 

If  you  think  these  assessments  are  in  excess  of  the  value  of  the 
property,  or  if  they  are  erroneous,  your  appeal  will  be  heard  on 

.between  the  hours  of  9  A.  M.  and  3  P.  M., 

(Date) 
at  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes,  Room  180,  City  Hall, 
West  Side. 

Unless  such  an  appeal  shall  be  filed  on  or  before  December  31, 
1913,  no  change  will  be  made  in  the  assessment  for  1914. 

Assessors. 


These  notices  are,  wherever  possible,  served  in  person  by  the 
assessors  on  the  premises  of  the  taxable  owner.  Some  assessors  keep 
a  list  of  persons  so  served  showing  the  date  of  service.  This,  how- 
ever, is  not  common  practice. 

On  the  date  fixed  the  Board  considers  all  appeals  made.  If  the 
testimony  of  the  assessor  is  desired,  the  Board  may  summon  him  to 


59 


appear  at  the  hearing  to  explain  why  in  his  judgment  the  value  set 
by  him  should  stand.  The  law  requires  that  he  attend  these  hearings 
when  notified  by  the  Board  to  appear. 

(4)  Preparation  of  assessors'  hoohs.  "Assessors'  books"  is  the 
name  by  which  the  official  records  of  assessment  are  known.  They 
are  prepared  directly  from  the  street  blotters ;  the  work  of  transcrib- 
ing being  done,  in  almost  all  cases,  by  the  assessors  themselves.  There 
are  at  this  time  165  volumes  in  a  complete  set  for  one  year.  Each 
assessment  district  is  divided  into  convenient  sections  or  divisions. 
Within  each  such  section,  one  volume  of  the  assessors'  books  is  de- 
voted to  streets  running  north  and  south,  or  in  that  general  direction ; 
another  to  those  running  in  an  east  and  west  direction.  Volumes 
within  a  district  are  numbered  in  order.  North  and  south  streets 
are  as  a  rule  placed  in  volumes  with  odd  numbers,  although  this 
scheme  is  not  invariably  adhered  to. 

The  number  of  sectional  divisions  into  which  a  district  is  di- 
vided is  determined  by  the  number  of  properties  that  can  be  listed 
conveniently  in  one  volume.  The  average  is  about  two  divisions  or 
four  volumes  to  a  district.  Inasmuch  as  the  law  requires  the  assess- 
ment books  to  be  kept  by  wards,  care  is  taken  in  dividing  a  district 
into  sections  to  preserve  the  ward  lines.  Thus,  if  a  district  comprises 
parts  of  two  wards  it  must  of  necessity  be  divided  into  at  least  two 
sections.  Each  volume  of  the  assessors'  books  is  indexed  by  streets 
alphabetically  arranged,  with  properties  listed  under  the  streets  in 
the  order  of  the  street  numbers.  Even  and  odd  numbers  on  a  given 
street  lare  separated.  In  addition  a  second  index  is  prepared  for  each 
volume,  in  which  items  are  arranged  alphabetically  under  the  names 
of  the  owners.     This  index  is  placed  in  the  back  of  the  volume. 

Following  is  the  form  of  the  printed  columnar  headings,  cover- 
ing a  double  page,  under  which  items  ^are  inserted : 


House  Number 

Name  of  Owner 

and  Description  of 

Property 

Real  Estate  Value, 
Dollars 

Real  Estate 

Corrected  Value, 

DoUars 

HORSES 

CARRIAGES  TO 
HIRE 

CATTLE 

Remarks 

No.     Value,   Dollars 

No.     Value,   Dollars 

No.     Value,   Dollars 

All  data  necessary  for  the  preparation  of  the  assessors'  books  are 
contained  in  the  street  blotters  (plus  the  personal  property  book,  if 
such  is  kept).  The  first  two  columns,  containing  the  house  number, 
name  of  owner  and  description  of  property,  are  usually  filled  in  early 


60 

in  the  year  at  intervals  while  tlie  field  work  is  progressing.  Nothing 
further  is  done  with  the  books  until  after  the  hearings  on  appeals 
from  assessments  by  the  Board  of  Kevision,  which  is  usually  in  the 
month  of  l^ovember.  Values  are  then  taken  from  the  street  blotters, 
after  noting  changes  made  by  additions,  reductions  and  allowances 
granted  to  date,  and  recorded  in  the  appropriate  columns  of  the 
assessors'  books. 

Exempt  properties  are  listed  in  the  same  manner  as  others,  ex- 
cept that  they  are  entered  in  red  ink  and  the  assessed  value  placed 
directly  below  the  description  instead  of  in  the  column  for  values. 
Corner  properties  are  so  noted. 

If  a  property  is  classed  as  farm  or  suburban,  the  fact  is  indi- 
cated by  inserting  ^^Farm"  or  "Sub"  in  red  ink  in  the  column  show- 
ing the  house  number.  The  absence  of  any  such  designation  means 
that  the  property  is  classed  as  "City"  realty. 

The  books  must  be  completed  and  returned  to  the  office  of  the 
Board  of  Revision  for  filing  by  January  10th.  If  changes  in  valua- 
tions are  made  necessary  after  the  books  have  been  closed,  by  reason 
of  reductions  or  additions  authorized  by  the  Board,  such  changes  are 
recorded  in  the  assessors'  books  by  writing  in  the  new  figure  in  the 
column  for  corrected  values,  or  by  drawing  a  red  line  through  the 
old  figure  and  placing  the  new  one  above  or  below. 

Both  assessors  certify  to  the  contents  of  each  volume  for  their 
district  as  follows: 

"We  the  undersigned,  assessors  of  Real  Estate  and  Personal 

Property  of  the District,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  do  certify  the 

foregoing  to  be  a  just,  true  and  correct  return  of  all  the  Real  Estate 
and  Personal  Property  subject  to  taxation  for  city  and  state  pur- 
poses in  the Division  of  the Ward  for  the  year 

19.... 


Assessors. 


(Date) 


(5)  Preparation  and  submission  of  reports,  (a)  Monthly  re- 
port on  building  improvements:  Each  month  the  assessors  of  each 
district  are  required  to  report  to  the  Board  of  Revision  on  all  build- 
ing permits  issued  during  the  previous  month.  The  report  is  pre- 
pared and  submitted  between  the  first  and  fifth  of  the  month,  signed 
by  both  assessors.    The  printed  form  used  for  the  report  is  as  follows : 


61 


Assessors'  Monthly  Report. 


For, 


.19.. 
Ward. 


Incorporate  List  of  Building  Inspectors'  Permits. 


Assessors. 


Date 


Location 

Description 

Size 

Estimated 
Cost 

Assessed 
Value  of 

This 
Property 
for  19- 

Remarks 


In  the  column  next  to  the  last  is  placed  the  assessed  value  for  the 
preceding  year.  If  the  contemplated  improvement  has  caused  the 
assessors  to  change  the  value,  the  value  fixed  for  the  forthcoming 
year  is  placed  in  the  column  for  remarks.  If  no  change  is  made  in 
the  assessment,  the  reasons  therefor  are  noted  in  this  column.  This 
report  is  submitted  directly  to  the  chief  clerk. 

(b)  Monthly  report  of  sales:  The  regular  monthly  report  of 
sales  [for  form,  see  description  under  10)  a)  p.  42]  is  prepared  in 
the  office  of  the  Board,  with  the  exception  of  the  column  for  remarks, 
which  is  left  vacant.  The  assessors  receive  it  in  this  shape,  and  after 
considering  its  contents  insert  in  the  column  for  "remarks"  a  record 
of  action  taken  on  each  item.  If  the  sales  record  leads  them  to 
change  the  assessment  for  the  forthcoming  year,  the  new  valuation  is 
inserted ;  if  no  change  is  made,  reasons  are  given  for  such.  The  re- 
ports are  then  returned  to  the  chief  clerk. 

(c)  Report  on  appeals  from  assessments :  After  notice  has  been 
given  each  year  that  hearings  of  appeals  will  be  held  by  the  Board,  a 
dissatisfied  property  owner  may  call  at  the  office  and  fill  in  an  appli- 
cation blank  for  a  revision  of  the  assessment.  This  blank  contains 
space  for  a  report  by  the  assessors.  As  soon  as  the  application  is  re- 
ceived at  the  office  of  the  Board  and  filed,  it  is  forwarded  to  the 
assessors  of  the  district  to  which  it  relates.  The  .assessors  then  make 
an  investigation  of  the  case  and  note  in  the  proper  space  the  results 
of  their  investigation  with  reasons  for  making  the  assessment.  After 
being  signed  by  both  assessors  the  application  is  returned  to  the  Board 
for  final  .action. 

The  Board  may  also  cause  the  assessors  to  make  an  oral  report 
on  assessments  if  it  deems  it  desirable  for  them  to  do  so. 


62 

(d)  Report  of  changes  in  use  of  exempt  property:  Assessors 
are  required  to  keep  informed  as  to  the  uses  to  which  property  ex- 
empted by  the  Board  from  taxation  is  put.  If  they  find  at  any  time 
that  such  property  is  being  used  for  any  other  purpose  than  that  noted 
when  the  exemption  was  made,  they  report  the  facts  to  the  Board, 
stating  the  changes  in  use  made,  in  order  that  the  Board  may  take 
such  action  as  it  deems  proper.  These  reports  are  made  on  the  forms 
prepared  for  applications  for  hearings  on  appeals,  the  proper  changes 
in  the  form  being  made  in  ink. 

(6)  Designation  of  chcmge  in  street  numbers  and  report  to  chief 
cleric.  The  assessors,  acting  by  authority  of  the  Board  of  Bevision, 
fix  tbe  street  numbers  of  properties  in  their  districts  and  change  the 
numbers  when  necessary  to  avoid  confusion  and  secure  uniformity. 
On  making  such  changes  the  following  printed  form  is  filled  out  and 
served  personally  or  through  the  mails  on  the  owner  of  the  property 
or  his  agent : 


Office  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 
City  Hall,  Broad  and  Market  Streets. 

l^o Philadelphia, 191 .  . 

Sir  : — By  virtue  of  an  ordinance  of  City  Councils,  approved  the 
30th  day  of  September,  1880,  entitled  "An  Ordinance  to  eifect  uni- 
formity in  numbering  houses,  and  to  avoid  duplication  in  the  naming 
fof  streets,"  you  are  hereby  notified  that  the  correct  number  of  the 

house  or  property  occupied  or  owned  by  you,  situate  on  the 

side street,  commencing feet of 

street,  is and  you  are  required,  within  thirty  days  from 

date  of  this  notice,  to  cause  the  said  number painted,  carved 

or  cast,  to  be  placed  in  a  conspicuous  place  upon  said  house  or  prop- 
erty, in  a  permanent  and  durable  manner. 

For  neglecting  or  refusing  to  have  said  house  or  property  num- 
bered in  the  manner  and  within  the  time  specified,  you  will  be  sub- 
ject to  a  penalty  of  five  dollars  for  each  and  every  offence;  to  be 
recovered  as  debts  of  like  amount  are  now  recoverable  by  law. 

By  order  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes. 


Assessors. 


63 

This  form  is  furnished  the  assessors  by  the  Board  of  Revision  in 
smiall  boobs  with  stubs  from  which  the  form,  when  filled  in,  is  de- 
tached. Each  notice  is  given  a  number  which  appears  on  both  the 
foi"ms  sent  to  the  owner  and  the  stub.  The  stub  is  retained  in  the 
book  as  a  record  for  the  assessor.  It  is  designed  to  show :  dumber, 
date,  premises,  house  number,  date  of  service,  kow  served. 

Whenever  a  change  is  made  in  a  street  number  or  a  new  num- 
ber fixed,  the  assessors  report  the  fact  to  the  chief  clerk  on  printed 
forms  furnished  them.  The  ward  number,  location,  owner,  number 
(old  and  new)  and  kind  of  property  aifected  by  each  change  is  re- 
ported. Upon  receiving  the  report  the  chief  clerk  afiixes  his  signa- 
ture thereto  and  forwards  it  to  the  registrar  of  the  bureau  of  water 
for  his  information. 


Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

PAT.  JAN  21,  1908 


542113 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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